Okay, so today’s Advent beer pick is a bit of a cheat, but it’s my birthday and my tradition is to select a “birthday” beer for today, something special that I’d want to drink. For a number of years now I’ve had another tradition where my brother would give me a magnum of Anchor Christmas Ale for my birthday, and I would save that bottle until the next year and pop it open on Christmas day.

I have also featured Anchor Christmas Ale on the Beer Advent Calendar every year since I started doing this, but sadly since Anchor Brewing is now closed, there won’t be any Christmas Ale this year (and from now on).

However! I still have some 2022 Anchor Christmas Ale that I’d been saving for this year’s Christmas, per my tradition, so I have one last opportunity to feature it this year, fittingly on my birthday. So in a very roundabout explanation, that’s how we get to our featured beer of the day, Anchor Christmas Ale (2022).

You can read the details behind the 2022 edition in last year’s post here, and if you get a chance to find and drink some Anchor Christmas Ale—perhaps you or someone you know saved a few bottles—then do just that and raise a glass to toast the fallen brewery.

Find Anchor Christmas Ale on:

• Untappd
• BeerAdvocate
• Sadly, nowhere else any more

Image credit: My own photo.