The beer I selected for this first day of December is Goose Island Christmas Ale, a classic Winter Warmer from Chicago. Goose Island proffers up their Christmas Ale in the traditional way: by tweaking the recipe each year.

Every year to celebrate the holiday season, we brew up our Christmas Ale, and with each year we change the recipe slightly so that you have something special to look forward to. Traditionally, our Christmas Ale is a complex brown ale that develops well in the bottle for up to five years.

This year’s vintage is 5.7% alcohol by volume and is sporting a new label which also describes something special: Goose Island is giving back this year.

Starting in 2009 we’ve decided to extend the tradition of giving with a gift to a Chicago Charity that helps to spread holiday cheer. We are donating a portion of the profits from this year’s Christmas Ale to the Chicago Christmas Ship. Each year, the ship sails from the shores of Michigan to Chicago with a hull of Christmas trees to be given to many disadvantaged families in Chicago.

Definitely something to raise a beer to this year.

BeerAdvocate: B+. RateBeer: 3.49/5, 87th percentile.