In the spirit of goodwill and trying new things for Christmas, today’s beer pick is Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale, subtitled “Brown Shugga’ Substitute.” Why do they suck?

This sad holiday season we didn’t have the brewing capacity to make our favorite seasonal brew, the widely feard BrownShugga’ Ale. So this substitute beer is a ‘Cereal Medley’ of Barley, Rye, Wheat, and Oats…. Full of complexishness from the 4 grains, and weighing in at 7.6% abv, Then joyously dry-hopped for that big aroma and resinous hop flavor.

I love Brown Shugga’, but I love a bit of self-deprecating humor and being able to roll out a good beer in the face of adversity even more. Plus how can you resist the image of the Sad Santa sugar cookie on the label?

Untappd. Facebook. BeerAdvocate: A. RateBeer: 3.64/5, 97th percentile.