The Brew Site
Beer by monks—and you don’t even have to travel to Belgium! Today’s Advent beer comes to us from the first Trappist brewery in America, Spencer Brewery in Massachusetts: Trappist Holiday Ale. This Belgian-styled strong dark ale is 9% alcohol by volume, and the brewery says, “Mahogany in color, wholesome in … Continue reading
Cider! In recent years I’ve been featuring cider on the Beer Advent Calendar since cider is a natural fit into the beer world, even as it straddles the line between beer and wine. This year I set out to include it again and discovered BlackBird Cider Works of New York, … Continue reading
When it comes to beer in Denmark, most of us are familiar with the big names—Carlsberg, Tuborg, Mikkeller—so naturally for today’s Advent beer I’ve selected one from none of those. Instead, we visit Hancock Bryggerierne in Skive, for its holiday lager, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas is brewed with Saaz hops … Continue reading
England is the source of the Advent beer pick for today, and we’re hearkening back to one of the original winter warmers from the iconic Samuel Smith’s brewery—Winter Welcome Ale. Winter Welcome Ale is a strong (by English ale standards) brew with 6% ABV and is a classic of the … Continue reading
For today’s Advent beer pick let’s drop in to St. Louis, Missouri, to visit Perennial Artisan Ales, and scare up a bottle of its Belgian-inspired bière de Noël, a strong dark ale with 10% alcohol by volume, Fête de Noël. It’s a “Christmas party” of a brew that just begs … Continue reading
Asheville, North Carolina is a beer destination, with a rich and thriving craft brewing culture that can trace its roots to its first brewery, Highland Brewing Company, which opened in 1994. Each year the brewery offers up a limited winter seasonal, which is today’s Advent beer pick: Cold Mountain. Cold … Continue reading
Today’s Advent beer is a first for the calendar: the first time a brewery from Estonia has been featured—in fact, the first time the country has ever made an appearance on this site! The brewery is Lehe Pruulikoda, which brews Sinner Santa, a spiced imperial stout. The beer is 10% … Continue reading
Happy National Lager Day! I don’t know how it came about, but December 10 is a day to observe the world’s most popular category of beer, so I like to select a seasonally appropriate lager for the Beer Advent Calendar. Germany is my go-to country when thinking of lagers, and … Continue reading
Austin, Texas has a remarkable beer scene, yet somehow I’ve never featured an Austin brewery on the Beer Advent Calendar in the years I’ve been doing this. (Only three Texas breweries have made it on here over the years.) So this year I set out to rectify that and selected … Continue reading
For today’s Advent beer we travel to Germany, to the city of Rosenheim and the brewery Flötzinger Bräu, which offers up not one, but two Christmas lagers, a standard-strength lager and a stronger bock. While I’d be happy to select both for today—drink them both if you can!—the highlight for … Continue reading