Today is my birthday, and has been my tradition each year on the Beer Advent Calendar, I get a bit self-indulgent and pick a special beer “for myself” to share with everyone. For today’s birthday/Advent beer I’ve picked one out that I’ve never had (it doesn’t get distributed in Oregon) but is one that Stan has written about on occasion, one which I would very much like to try: the award-winning Chicken Killer Barley Wine from Santa Fe Brewing.

Santa Fe Brewing is New Mexico’s oldest craft brewery, established in 1988, and distributes around the American Southwest and a bit into the Midwest—just not into Oregon (yet) sadly.

It is brewed with twice the ingredients of the Santa Fe Brewing Company’s other beers, and only half the usual amount of liquid is extracted from these ingredients. This makes one substantial beer. At over ten percent alcohol, Chicken Killer is actually as substantial as wine, but this is not to say that it is difficult to drink. On the contrary; be careful with this one. The flavors of the beer are at first as overwhelming as the intense Santa Fe sun. But in the same way our sun gives us the unrivaled brilliant colors of Santa Fe, the potency of Chicken Killer gives us the remarkable spectrum of flavors that can be found in no other beer, in no other city.

At a hefty 10% abv this would of course be an ideal beer to age for a year or more. And would be a great birthday/Christmas treat!

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