Christmas is everyone’s favorite holiday, but true beer fans know that the most wonderful time of the year is made even more wonderful with a pint in your hand. Winter warmers and other dark, comforting brews take over around the holidays to help carolers and Christmas tree shoppers thaw out after a chilly night. These beers dance on the tongue, fill the belly and warm the soul. Many of the traditional winter warmers are malty, high-strength ales with a sweet and/or roast character. Imperial stouts, strong ales, and barleywines fit right in. Some new holiday beers boast Christmas-inspired herbs, fruits, and spices. Almost all of them are rich and delicious, including the five Peaks and Pints presents in today’s in-house beer flight: Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Big Christmas Beer Flight.
Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: Big Christmas Beer Flight
Silver City 2016 Bourbon Barrel Old Scrooge
9.5% ABV, 26 IBU
The cats at Silver City Brewery excel in their Barrel-Aged Series, from Bourbon Barrel Aged Time Goddess Imperial Stout to Port Barrel Giant Made of Shadows. But the barleywine is the star. This holiday bourbon barrel-aged English barleywine offers up a rich aroma of toffee and sweet cherry, with a rush of warm vanilla, bourbon, and caramel malt to create an immaculate fireside drinking companion.
Brouwerij St. Bernardus Christmas Ale
10% ABV, 28 IBU
All the self-restraint of day-to-day life, the emphasis on physical and fiscal fitness — forget it. These four weeks of holiday celebration are just not like the other 48; you must approach them with “dog years” math. One holiday week really takes the toll of seven on your body. Obviously, such a pace is exhausting, and you’ll need extra supplies for stamina. So go ahead, enjoy a Brouwerij St. Bernardus Christmas Ale — and if Jenny Craig doesn’t like it, let her do your shopping. While there are plenty of great imported beers, especially from Belgium, this Belgian quadrupel consistently ranks in the top five Christmas beers of all time. It’s meant for sipping: strong, complex, and thick with molasses sweetness, apricots, and mint. Indulge.
Tacoma Water
0% ABV
Since 1913, Tacoma’s primary water supply has been the unfiltered Green River. Until the Green River Filtration Facility was built in 2015, the Green River was one of the few major unfiltered surface water supplies left in the U.S. After thorough study and public input, the City decided that filtration was the best way to comply and keep the water safe, and so built the filtration facility at the Tacoma Water Headworks, near the town of Cumberland in south King County. The facility continues to provide clean, healthy water, and levels of cryptosporidium remain low in the Green River water supply.
Evil Twin Christmas Eve at a New York City Hotel Room
10% ABV, 50 IBU
Evil Twin Brewing‘s Christmas Eve at a New York City Hotel Room imperial stout has an intense black color topped by a fine beige head. The nose is complex with molasses, sweet milk, chocolate, vanilla, and licorice, but also notes of espresso in a perfect balance. On the tongue, we get roasted malt, bitter coffee, earthy hops, grape, and licorice flavors with a subtle chocolate finish.
Oakshire Barrel-Aged Peppermint Bark Imperial Stout
14.53% ABV
Oakshire Brewing’s Barrel-Aged peppermint Bark Stout returns to bring holiday cheers for its fourth year. Brewed in March of 2022, the base rye imperial stout was laid to rest in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels. After aging gracefully for 20 months, they blended and finished the stout on peppermint bark candy, peppermint sticks, and cocoa nibs. This jet-black beer offers notes of peppermint and chocolate on the nose. Mint, chocolate, and spice flavors converge with the complex bourbon character.
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