Beer Me: Top 5 Christmas Ales - According to Me

I have been lax in my beer drinking. My apologies. This is a fantastic time of year for beer lovers. The brews are warming and rich with flavor. Perfect for a snowy eve. Today, I'm bringing you 5 of my favorites, in no particular order. OK, the first one is my absolute favorite, but the rest are in no particular order. And they're all good.

1) Troeg's Mad Elf

Source

This is the most expensive one at around $15.99 for a 6-pack (or it may be a 4-pack). It's also sold in 22 oz. bottles and is 11.0% ABV. But....it's worth it.

From the site: "The Mad Elf is a cheerful creation to warm 

your heart and enlighten your tongue. The combination of 

cherries, honey, and chocolate malts delivers gentle fruits 

and subtle spices. Fermented and aged with a unique 

yeast, this ruby red beer has significant warming strength 

that underlies the pleasant character of this intriguing yet 

delicious Ale. The Mad Elf is a jolly and delicious beer for 

 the holidays."

2) Southern Tier 2XMAS

Absolutely love Southern Tier and their beers. They make my favorite fall beer, Pumking, so it's only fitting that their Christmas offering is high on my list as well. I wrote about them last year HERE.


3) Thirsty Dog 12 Dogs of Christmas

Now, I heard rumor that the brewer of 12 Dogs used to work for Great Lakes Brewing and tweaked their Christmas Ale recipe to come up with the 12 Dogs of Christmas. I don't know if that's true or not but it seems plausible. This is for sure one of my favorites. I wrote about it last year HERE.


4) Fat Head's Holly Jolly

Source

Fat Head's consistently puts out some quality beers and this Christmas is no different. I believe this is a new offering from them this year and it's a winner! Full of spice!

From the site: "Once upon a frozen evening way up north, a 

sweet local honey named Holly inspired our Jolly Fat Man 

(as only Holly can) to create this festive spiced holiday ale. 


We think you will enjoy his holiday creation with it's aromas 

and flavors of Christmas day. Sweet malt, ginger, honey 

and cinnamon spice. Sip this by the fire with your significant 

other. Who knows, maybe it will lead to a little inspiration of 

your own. From our Jolly Fat Man to yours, Happy Holidays."


5) Rivertown Winter Ale 

Source

This is the Christmas offering from Rivertown but because it's a Winter, I'm hoping it will stick around through the new year. Let me say, the 6 pack we just recently purchased ($8.49) was the freshest I had every tasted! Like it came directly from the bottling line and into my glass 30 minutes later. Holy moly!

From the site: "Winter spiced ale is our winter seasonal offering. 

With its thick body, creamy head, ruby hue, and big bold flavors 

with hints of caramel, toffee, and cinnamon, it is sure to keep you 

warm through the cold winter nights. "


I did not include Great Lakes Christmas Ale. Blasphemous, I know. Truth be told, I do like it. I just like the ones I listed better.

Happy Beering!

Touring Ohio: Rivertown Brewing Co.

The wine club is branching out! Between the four of us, we have been to pretty much all of the local wineries and were looking for an excursion of sorts. Enter Rivertown Brewing Co.

Located in a warehouse-y, industrial area of Lockland, a suburb of Cincinnati, Rivertown Brewing Co. has been bringing some of the finest brews to your pint glasses since 2008 (I think I have that year right). They have one of my most favorite porters ever, Roebling (my review HERE), and everyone we've shared it with loves it too. In the fall, their pumpkin is easily in my top 5. But, they also offer a number of other varieties year-round that easily hold their own.

On Fridays at 6:00 pm and Saturdays at 3:00 pm, they offer tours of their operation in Unit 6 (you know, in the strip of offices/warehouse). Unit 6 is also one of their beers, an American Hefeweizen, the name a nod to their humble home. For $5.00 you get the tour, a Rivertown pint glass and a pint of beer to drink on the tour. What a deal!! And when's the last time you got to take your drink on a tour? Even wineries don't let you walk around with a glass in most places. Granted, the beer may have made the ladies in our foursome giggle a bit much and not pay attention like the guys were but no harm, no foul.

The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and I learned a lot about the brewing process. We were allowed to taste the various malts they use and smell the hops (smelled like an IPA to me!). They recommend you get there about 30 minutes early and we were glad to have gone even earlier than that. I don't know that they cap the tour but there were easily 30 people on ours in a relatively small area. Arriving early also allowed us to try some beers (at $1.00/taste) before the throngs pushed forth.

In their tap room, they also fill growlers to go at really decent prices. We were all impressed with the tour and set up and of course, the beer. Even the non-beer drinker of the group enjoyed her pints. The newest addition I tried was the Fat Happy Monk, a Belgian style session high on alcohol that could definitely sneak up on you but full of flavor. I also tried McKibben's Dry Irish Stout. We all agreed that it was dry and smoky but good.

This is a definitely a new spot to take visitors of the beer-drinking variety. We are always looking for new things to do with out-of-towners. This one gets added to the list! By the end of summer, we'll have amassed quite the collection of pint glasses. If you're in the area, please check this place out. Great way to spend an afternoon. Oh! And free pizza in the tap room too plus a food truck outside. :)

Also, there was, inexplicably, this giant truck with an airbrushed Shania Twain on it. So.....there's that.

Beer Me: Blueberry

I recently tried two different blueberry beers that I must share with you. Blueberry and beer not a natural pairing, you say? Well, I would have said so too but I'm always looking for something new and different in my glass so here they are!

This is Bumbleberry, a Honey Blueberry Ale from Fat Head's Brewery. Up until now I was unfamiliar with them but I am a new fan! They are located in Ohio about 20 minutes from my hometown. How I didn't know they existed up there, I don't know. But, I am for sure making a visit there...possibly this coming weekend!

From the site: "Brewed with fresh harvested spring honey stolen from some very angry bees (we have the welts to prove it) and infused with fresh blueberries. Creating a light, refreshing ale with a nice blueberry aroma, crackery malt flavors, a hint of sweetness and a refreshing blueberry finish. Get yo buzz on!"

I thought this was great and super refreshing, like they claimed it to be. Not overpowering on the blueberry but you must like blueberry to enjoy this beer because the flavor is definitely there. Only a 13 on the bitterness scale and 5.3% ABV makes for a good summertime brew. I hope it's a year rounder so I can enjoy one on the patio in June! Give this a try. $10.99/6 pack.

Source

The other is the Blueberry Lager from Rivertown Brewing Co. I only had a sample of this at the store so that's not my picture above but I would definitely look at buying it in the future.

From the site: "this light, crisp clean lager beer is brewed with fresh blueberry aroma and flavor."

Short on words but big on taste. I liked this a lot more than I expected to. I tried it a few weeks before the Fat Head's one. Good blueberry flavor and smooth drinking at 5.3 % as well. Blueberry Lager is one of their year-round offerings so hopefully it'll still be readily available as spring actually springs.

Maybe these blueberry beers are the cure for my winter blues?

Beer Me: Rivertown Brewing Co.

Rivertown Brewing Co. is located near the Ohio River in Cincinnati. I'm not sure how far out they distribute but if you can find it, buy it. Here are two that I've tried recently.

Roebling Imperial Robust Porter - This was a good, warming porter on a COLD winter night. Unfortunately, John only left 1 for me out the whole 6 pack! I guess he liked them. That, and I think I was drinking wine instead of beer a couple of those nights. Gotta be quick around here.

From their site: "ROEBLING (Vanilla Espresso Imperial Robust Porter) – Like a big chocolate, espresso infused brownie, Roebling Porter packs a lot a flavor from the use of fresh organic Ugandan vanilla beans, organic Peruvian espresso/coffee and natural raw cane sugar. 7.8% ABV A, 35 IBU, 31 SRM. Available in 6 packs and draft."

All of those delicious flavors they noted? They are all in there. All distinct as you sip. Low on the bitterness scale, high on taste. I don't know what SRM means though. Guess I should look that up. I think this is about $9.49 for a six pack. 

Also from Rivertown is their winter seasonal, the Bock Beer.

From their site: "(Released in February) Rivertown Brewing Co.’s bock beer seasonal lager is a big full bodied beer, with lots of caramel malt flavor and spicy hop notes. Our bock beer is a great way to welcome the coming of spring. best served at 48ºf in a brandy glass. 7.2% ABV"

Bocks, to me, are just good, easy beers. They almost never disappoint and this one lived up to my expectations as well.

I'm hoping to go tour their facility some Saturday when there's not much going on. In the fall, their pumpkin is one of my top 5 pumpkin beers too. That's saying something!