IGX

Some of the best I've tried so far this year:

Great Lakes Chrismas Ale- This stuff is out of Ohio and really good. This sells out in nanoseconds in my area because we only get a really limited supply and people hoard it. Really good, seems like a good IPA infused with holiday beer spices.

Southern Tier 2Xmas- this is out of Jamestown NY, almost as good as Great lakes but not quite. The alcohol taste is a bit more up front but again its good and probably designed as a Great Lakes clone.

Twelve dogs of Christmas- Another one similar to GL (story is the brewmaster who designed GL Chrismas ale left that company and came up with this). It is as almost as good as as GL with a few more rough edges. I like it a lot.

4 Elf- this stuff is from MI (Shaf, ever try it?) unlike the others this is based on a stout I think. My bro-in-law sent me some. Really good if you like like stout beers and holiday spices. Says 8.75% ABV on the bottle but NFW. Its gotta be 10-11%. This stuff will fuck you up in short order. The alcohol is hidden well and it tastes great. Definitely a favorite.

Some stuff I disliked:

Sierra Nevada Celebration: I hate it. Like most of their stuff way to hoppy with no upside. Disgusting. The only thing I like from them is their Pale Ale. That is my go to beer most of the time but everything else from them, not so much.

Southern tier Old Man Ale- pretty shitty, not a fan.

Happy holidays!

Sam Adams used to make a great dark winter beer too.

Jubelale.

Learning to brew your own beer is easy. The beer will taste better than what you can buy in a store. I can answer any basic brewing questions if you have any.

Yeah, I wish I had more of the Scotch Ale you made! That was the best I ever had in the states.

Six Point Diesel Stout. One of the best stouts I've had in a long, long time. Some days it pays to be a bartender...

tough old man wrote:Yeah, I wish I had more of the Scotch Ale you made! That was the best I ever had in the states.

One year, my BIL, a Philly golf pro re-gifted a whole case of assorted Scotch Ales to me he received from one of the club members. Best hand me down gift I ever received.

DPR wrote:Learning to brew your own beer is easy. The beer will taste better than what you can buy in a store. I can answer any basic brewing questions if you have any.

Do you really think that you brew the best beer in the world or is this a sort of "it's great since it came from my own hands" type of thing?

No, I don't think it is the best beer in the world. But it can taste much better than a lot of beer you buy in stores. My guess is that the quality of ingredients is higher than what is used in mass production.

I've had pretty good luck brewing my own, for the most part.
As for SN Celebration Ale, I find it pretty well balanced compared to some other IPA's I've had.
They're definitely an acquired taste, though.

VO2 maxed wrote:I've had pretty good luck brewing my own, for the most part.
As for SN Celebration Ale, I find it pretty well balanced compared to some other IPA's I've had.
They're definitely an acquired taste, though.

The most successful homebrew in my miserable attempts was a SN celebration clone...That's gotta be one of my favorites.

Try the Dick's Double Diamond-- brewed in Centralia.

Turdacious wrote:Try the Dick's Double Diamond-- brewed in Centralia.

Will do. Sounds good.

12 oz bottle courtesy of Libby pours a clear, dark crimson color with a very creamy tan head. Retention is decent and not much lacing.

Nose is a nice interplay of choco-caramel maltiness and bruised strawberries and plums. I dont get much hop aroma or alcohol. Malt and fruit...pretty straightforward.

Taste throws a nice nutty curveball in the mix along with the aforementioned overripe fruit and strong, hearty malt presence. A fairly substantial bitterness creeps in slowly on the finish to dry things out, very nearly like biting a pine needle at the very end. Mouthfeel is smooth, and I think much of that can be attributed to the very fine carbonation. I like it, but the flavors are kinda all over the place. Top 25 winter warmers...sure. Top 10...prolly not. If I lived in WA though, I would surely look forward to a sixer of this every year, thanks Matt for a tasty rendition of a style that rarely gets any production love here in the south.

Centralia is getting to be a weird little nice town now...Strange. I have a bottle of moonshine from a distiller there.

Interesting. Sadly I can't get any of the better PNW beers on the other coast.

A beer snob I am not, but Trader Joe's private label, holiday beer from last year was pretty good.....I have not bought this year's brew, though.

Delirium Noel is tasty but overwhelming. Buy a bottle and share with three people.

tough old man wrote:Sam Adams used to make a great dark winter beer too.

I think Sam Adams gets overlooked as a good craft beer maker because they were one of the original microbrewers and have grown to a pretty good size. They actually make 3 of the best beers I've ever had. And regular old Boston Lager is a go-to when I just want a good ol' beer.

Their Oktoberfest is still something I look forward to all year, and squirrel away a couple sixers for a rainy day.
The Old Fezziwig Ale is in my all time top 10 beers. When they first made it you could get it in a special bomber, but after that you could only get it in the holiday mix pack. I'd buy a few of the mix packs just to get those bottles of Fezziwig.


One of the best seasonals I've ever tasted was the original Pete's Wicked Ales Winter Brew. To this day it's one of the most complex beers I've ever tasted. That was 97 or 98, I guess. After that first year it never was as good. And Pete's as a brewery went down hill quickly after that.

And BD and other Seattleites, head up to Bellingham and grab a Cabin Fever at Boundary Bay brewery.

I'd give just about anything to get a Boundary Bay IPA, Scotch Ale, and Oatmeal Stout in Atlanta.