Hanukkah sameach! This evening is the first night of Hanukkah, and to commemorate the holiday, today’s calendar beer pick comes from Collision Bend Brewing of Cleveland, Ohio. Collision Bend brews an annual Hanukkah winter ale, 8 Crazy Nights, lightly spiced with a touch of apple cider.

It’s 8.5% alcohol by volume and the description reads:

8 Crazy Nights is an ale crafted to warm your heart and help you survive our blustery Lake Erie winters. It is bold and spicy, with a touch of cinnamon, honey and steeped with local Ohio-grown apple cider from our friends at Quarry Hill Orchards.

I reached out to the brewery to find out a bit more about the beer (and initially, if it was indeed brewed for Hanukkah), and to inquire if it was kosher. General manager Michael Grano responded:

Yes, it is brewed as a Hanukkah beer. One of our former partners was Jewish and everything in the market was all about Christmas beers especially in Cleveland. Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights movie was a brewer’s favorite. A lot of our beer names have references to movies, music and etc… The beer has notes of honey and cinnamon and it’s not overly spiced like most holiday beers.

Unfortunately, 8 Crazy is not kosher but we are going to work towards that goal. If I am not mistaken all of the ingredients are kosher, we just need to get it certified as kosher.

If you celebrate the Festival of Lights, then a very happy Hanukkah to you, and I hope you can find a bit of Collision Bend’s 8 Crazy Nights to enjoy. L’chaim!

Find Collision Bend 8 Crazy Nights on:

• Collision Bend’s Beer Finder
• Untappd
• BeerAdvocate
• Facebook

Image credit: Collision Bend’s Facebook page