Today’s selection comes from beer blogger Alan McLeod, author/editor of A Good Beer Blog, one of the “old timers” and finest bloggers out there. He’s currently knee-deep in his annual Yule Photo Contest but kindly took the time to write up a post for the Calendar (which you can also find on his site today).

Jon Abernathy of The Brew Site asked me to join in and place one beer on his Advent calendar this Christmas season. Well, as Jon is I think the only pure beer blogger who may well have been posting longer than I have who am I to say no? I posted my first beer blog post on this stand alone beer blog around Monday 25 October 2004 while his site went back to June. Here is a post from Jon the next day as he finds A Good Beer Blog as he looks throughout an empty internet for other beer blogs. My post was also about hunting out beer sites.

So Yuletide beer, eh? I wrote about a favorite almost two years ago now and I expect it would be a beer that could warm the heart of even the meanest anti-baby activist:

Light chestnut-caramel ale under the fine tan rim and foam. Pumpernickel and line scented. In the mouth, this is a really interesting ale with the thyme giving a real roast of lamb effect. A beer that begs to soak a wee sheep’s leg as much as a hefeweizen begs to meet pork. Nutty malt with brown sugar richness and a very distinct but balanced thyme presence…pungent even. The coriander is more of a counterpoint, however much it is there in the nose. This beer could match a strong hard cheese well, too, like aged gouda but maybe not anything blue unless it came out of a sheep. Or roast parsnips. It would go with roast parsnips.

You have no idea how angry it makes me that I don’t have a lifetime’s store of this beer laid up in the basement – or at lease a deal with Brasserie D’Achouffe that sees two cases show up every December 18th. Life’s tragedy summarized right there. Anyway, happy Christmas and a merry New Year to you all.

[BeerAdvocate: A-. RateBeer: 3.81/5, 98th percentile]