Seasonal or Christmas beers are much more than a can of lager. These often ‘big’ beers grab people’s attention, even those guests at the party who are busy tasting eggnog! From fat barreled ales to upper-class porters, there are plenty of holiday brews, charting the holiday drinking hierarchy. In recent times, various countries including Belgium and the United States have been experimenting successfully with more unusual types of seasonal Christmas beers. Some are spicy, while some are honey-laced or fruity. These sorts of beers will always leave a luxurious feeling, once you take a swig! Right from creative brew estates to multifaceted supermarkets, these sorts of Christmas beers are everyone’s choice. Here are five top beers that you can enjoy during your Christmas holidays, to keep your festive spirits high!
Christmas Beer – In the Exact Sense
What is precisely a Christmas beer? What most of us consider as a Christmas Beer, is often stylized as a ‘winter warmer.’ According to the American Craft Beer, these winter warmers are either spicy or intensely flavored. Flavored differently than other seasonal brews, these are quite famous beers during Christmas time. A concoction of nutmeg, Cinnamon, and sweetness of honey, Christmas beer usually falls in this category. Mostly they are malty in taste, with a little boozy punch. These holiday beers are medium or heavy-bodied, dark amber in color, along with a tinge of spicy zing.
Nowadays, craft breweries are turning into quite a creative crowd with the way they manufacture Christmas or holiday beer. It is a rare genre found among the beers. Right from holiday pilsners, to fruity cranberry ales to specific Christmas spruced beers, all come under this category. The community of craft beer has moved ahead with this creative venture with even more innovative measures in recent times. When getting a chance, charge your taste buds with these Christmas beers and be merry.
- Cleveland’s Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Christmas Beer
Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland, United States has been producing the famous Cinnamon and clove flavored Christmas beer since the early 1980s. Since then, they have been successful in maintaining the same taste and quality. Before even pouring the beer into a glass, you will be able to smell the strong spicy flavor of Clove and Cinnamon. The aromatic ginger flavor will give a tingling effect, once you touch the mug to your lips. With the first sip, the heady feeling of the sweetness of honey will provide you with a different feel. Enjoy your Christmas with this two decades old, sweet, and spicy flavored beer. Once the beer starts warming up, the fruity flavor of nutmeg will begin heightening their intensity.
- Holly Jolly Christmas Beer of Fat Heads
FatHead Holly Jolly Christmas Ale, brewed in Ohio, pours to a deep copper hue and generates a dazzling look. It has a thick cream-textured head. A real beer lover will appreciate its beautiful features in the real sense. Crystal malty flavored, with a snappy cinnamon spicy taste, this beer leaves a luxurious feeling, once consumed. Slowly the sweetness of honey and ginger spice will capture your senses.Go ahead with this sweet flavored brew made with locally sourced honey to make your Christmas a memorable one!
- Christmas beer of Abita Brewing Company
This particular Christmas ale is brown and brewed along with six types of barley that are malted thoroughly. Fermented later with the aid of American-ale yeast, it combines the flavor of Munich, biscuit, caramel, and chocolate-flavored malts. This brown ale comes under the category of the spiced-beer zone. If at all you think of trying this particular style of holiday beer, this one stands to be the right choice. The dryness, piney, and citrus-fruity feeling will leave a lingering flavor in your taste palates. It is thus seriously crushable. Abita Christmas ale beer lures the beer-lovers with it’s sweet and malty profile, along with pleasant hop-aromatic flavor!
- Christmas Ale – Mucky Duck Nauti or Nice?
Mucky Duck Nauti or Natty Christmas beer is amber or orange-colored beer, with one finger-sized cream-colored head. Once poured in the glass, it leaves behind the spicy flavor of Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, orange peel, lavender, rosemary, chamomile, caramel, brown sugar, gingerbread, cookies, and a toasted biscuit! In short, this Christmas beer is a powerhouse of full-on flavors. It is an 8% ABV, with a pleasant nuance-creating ability in this particular beer. Once you feel attracted all the time towards spicy flavored ones, this particular Christmas beer will never leave you disappointed. The aromatic flavor wafting from the beer mugs will make you want to sing Christmas Carols everywhere and always!
- Market Garden Brewery’s Festive Holiday beer
Smooth, spiced, and handsomely malt-flavored, Market Garden Holiday beer has an elegant finish. All kudos to the brown-colored ale, with a hint of brown sugar, ginger, and nutmeg. The sleek spiking and insignificant head vanish impartially while leaving a brown colored ale with a golden glow. The typical Christmas beer aroma will enhance your holiday spirits. Enjoy your winter nights with a heady feeling of Festive Holiday beer. You will get floored once tasting this festive mishmash! Alternatively, one can also try their hand on to smooth, blended Johnnie Walker whiskey. Its lip-smacking taste goes with a plethora of food items.
Let the festive fever soar high.
Christmas beers are seasonal, of course, and they have a small time frame. This particular category lasts for about 60-70 days. And if you are lucky, you might get hold of a couple of the same during the time of Halloween. But then, right after New Year, these holiday beers quickly disappear. Thus, their limited nature fuels their popularity and recognition. Somewhere down the green and red labeled beer bottles, the festivity rises. The festive fever soars up with scenes of snowfall on the fir trees, accentuating the whole scene. These above mentioned five beers would make you enjoy this Christmas with a full-on bang! Stay merry, and Christmassy!
Special thanks to Heidi Jones for this Great Beer Now guest post!
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