The Brew Site
We’re over halfway to Christmas and through the Beer Advent Calendar… today I picked Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig Ale. It’s not a beer you find on its own anymore, but in Sam Adams’ Winter Classics 12-packs. According to the web site, this is the "Christmas cookie of beer," brewed with … Continue reading
Ahh, Full Sail Brewing—one of the flagship breweries of Oregon. And their Wassail is a nice festive selection for today. Wassail is brewed "with four different malts and a blend of imported hops," and has 6.5% alcohol by volume. BeerAdvocate: 86 (out of 100) with 96% thumbs-up. In the interest … Continue reading
Via Hail the Ale! comes this fun link: Beer in 78 languages. Some artificial languages, too. Arabic — beereh (biræ)Chinese (Mandarin) — pi jiuEsperanto — bieroHawaiian — piaJapanese — biiruRussian — pivo "Pivo" appears not only in Russian, but in Azerbaijani, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, and Ukrainian as … Continue reading
Today I selected the Winter Ale from the always-reliable Alaskan Brewing Company. This beer has the distinguishing quality of being brewed with spruce tips—yes, spruce tips from trees. Why? From the seafaring adventurers of the 1700’s to the homebrewers of today, adding spruce tips to beer has a rich history … Continue reading
Today’s pick is from Belgium: Fantôme Spéciale De Noël. This monster has 10% alcohol by volume, and this strength is not for the faint of heart—if you don’t like barleywines, it’s probable that you won’t like this, either. Part of the reason I picked it is because I rather liked … Continue reading
Strange, but true: Tomato-based beer now on shelves. I’m not sure what to make of it. Yearlong efforts by a Niigata brewery and a Tokyo izakaya pub owner have finally borne fruit: Their tomato-based, low-malt beer is now on the shelves. Called Tomato Bibere, the reddish brew has a characteristic … Continue reading
What, you think I’d let Seriously Bad Elf get by without being selected after I’d written about it? This beer’s a whopping 9% alcohol by volume, a "very English interpretation of a Belgian Tripel" according to the link. I can’t vouch for it, though—but I do like the bottle :). … Continue reading
I picked up a six-pack of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale today and realized it would be an ideal pick for today’s beer. Sierra Nevada is one of America’s oldest and best craft breweries, and their beers prove it. Celebration Ale scores an outstanding 90 (out of a hundred) on BeerAdvocate … Continue reading
Today I’ve picked New Belgium Brewing‘s Frambozen. It’s a tasty raspberry brown ale, with respectable strength (7% ABV) and delightful fruit flavor. It makes for a great holiday brew for people who don’t like overly heavy, dark, or strong beers. About this year’s vintage, New Belgium’s site says: Brewer Bill … Continue reading
Today’s beer is not only a seasonal, it’s also the first 9% alcohol-by-volume beer brewed in North Carolina since the state raised it’s alcohol limit from 6% this year: Weeping Radish Brewery‘s Christmas Doppelbock. The BeerAdvocate reviews don’t really apply here, as they were for the previously 5.8% alcohol Doppelbock… … Continue reading