I am Digging The Winter Ale

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Matt Foley

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Love this time of year. Started with the Sam Adams Winter Lager which is ok. But then the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale hits the market and is really good. I also recently tried New Belgian's 2 below which is quite nice. Full Sail Wassail a little darker but pretty good. Can you suggest any other good winter/holiday ales to try?
 
Matt Foley said:
Love this time of year. Started with the Sam Adams Winter Lager which is ok. But then the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale hits the market and is really good. I also recently tried New Belgian's 2 below which is quite nice. Full Sail Wassail a little darker but pretty good. Can you suggest any other good winter/holiday ales to try?

Anchor's Christmas is good, Delirium Noel, Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza, Gouden Carolus Noel, Alesmith Yulesmith, I recently had the Equinox Belgian winter ale...

So many good winter beers. It is my favorite season of the year for beer. The Delirium is probably something you should try and if you like any sour beers at all, the Noel de Calabaza too.
 
Matt Foley said:
Love this time of year. Started with the Sam Adams Winter Lager which is ok. But then the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale hits the market and is really good. I also recently tried New Belgian's 2 below which is quite nice. Full Sail Wassail a little darker but pretty good. Can you suggest any other good winter/holiday ales to try?

Can you find Bell's Winter Ale where you live? Thats my Fav. Winter beer.
 
Redhook's Winterhook is fantastic this year.
Hale's Wee Heavy Winter ale is always good, but I have not tried it yet this year.
Pyramid Snow Cap is usually pretty good.
I think at last count, my favorite grocery store had about 20 winter ales in stock.

So far, I have avoided all winter ales except Winterhook, which I crave all year long, so once it comes out each year, I HAVE to have one.

As to the rest, on New Years day I always have about 30-40 family and friends over in the afternoon for a little get together, and one of our traditions is to grab one of every winter beer we can find, and do a sampling. I have been trying to stay away from everything so that I can have an unbiased opinion when we do it this year.

Except for Winterhook, of course... and it was one of the reasons that I got into home brewing, because I love that beer so much. YUM!!!
 
I made a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale clone as a christmas ale to give out as presesnts. The only thing I did different was i doubled the hops and dry hopped to kick it up a notch. I opened my first bottle on sunday to to test the flavor before wrapping. Holy sh*t it was awsome.
 
Highland brewery out of Asheville, NC has a great winter Cold Mountain Ale. It used to sell out in a day and tap out in a week, but they expanded... maybe even get it outside of Asheville now?

For different and fun, try Sammy Adams Cranberry Lambic. I found it refreshingly different. Nice tart presence.
 
rabidgerbil said:
Redhook's Winterhook is fantastic this year.
...

So far, I have avoided all winter ales except Winterhook, which I crave all year long, so once it comes out each year, I HAVE to have one.

...

Except for Winterhook, of course... and it was one of the reasons that I got into home brewing, because I love that beer so much. YUM!!!

I was actually a little disappointed with WinterHook this year. I thought last year's was great.

I drinking a [thread=36239]WinterHook clone[/thread] right now that is great. It resembles last year's brew more than this year's, but you might want to try it anyway.
 
Beerthoven said:
I was actually a little disappointed with WinterHook this year. I thought last year's was great.

I drinking a [thread=36239]WinterHook clone[/thread] right now that is great. It resembles last year's brew more than this year's, but you might want to try it anyway.

If my memory serves me, I did like last years better, but I still like this years. This year reminds me of a few rye beers that I have had. It would be nice if they would give a little more details on their site about their beers.
 
Here in Atlanta Sweetwater has a Festive Ale every year. This is the first year I was able to score any so I went whole hog. Got a case to see if I liked it. When I decided I did like it the wife got me 2 more cases and a case of 1 liter swing tops that they only bottle 1100 of.

I like the Sam Adams winter ale and like Sam's Holiday assortment 12 pack especially the Porter and Old Fesiwick. But I can't drink that Cranberry Lambic I tried cooking a chicken in it using a bottle I couldn't finish. It made the chicken taste like crap too.
 
Widmer's Snow Plow (Milk Stout) is great. I like Tannen Bomb from Golden Valley even more, but it isn't widely available.
 
Anchor Christmas 2007 is really good and so is Breckenridge's holiday beer.

Avoid Saranac Winter Wassail...Not that good, IMO.
 
Boulevard Brewery in KC makes a winter warmer called Nutcracker Ale that is pretty damn good. If you have access, I'd recommend rying that one.

bob
 
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