Your intrepid liquor reporter loves this time of year. No, gentle reader, it’s not that I’m partial to the snow, treacherous roads, and cold weather. Rather, this time of year is a veritable cornucopia of seasonal beers!
It all begins in September, when the shelves of our local booze merchants are crowded with special Oktoberfest Lagers.
By the time I have finished off the Oktoberfest-themed beers, usually with a few pretzels or bratwurst, the Pumpkin Ales appear on the scene, performing double duty for both Halloween and Thanksgiving.
As luck would have it, I finished the last of the Pumpkin beers just last week, at the same time my local booze merchant was stocking the shelves with the Christmas beers.
Since your humble narrator likes to think globally and drink locally, my first seasonal brew was from the annual release of Cherry Porter from Calgary’s own Wild Rose Brewery, which I enjoyed fresh from the brass teats at the brewery’s tasting room.
Faithful readers may recall that this particular brew has earned a spot in the illustrious beer tome “1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die”, which your humble narrator has been diligently plugging away at.
Made with ripe BC cherries, then aged with a dark porter-style beer, this brew reminds me of a smoky-flavoured black forest cake. The beer pours almost black into the glass, and has an intense flavour that will take your taste buds on a wild ride.
Looking elsewhere in Alberta, there is an upstart young brewery in the small town of Edgerton, close to the border with Saskatchewan. The Ribstone Creek Brewery has only been in operation since the fall of 2012, but your humble narrator has been ardently supporting their operation since then!
Ribstone Creek has released their own seasonal brew, called the Old Man Winter Porter, which is available in well-stocked booze merchants around Calgary and Edmonton. With earthy spices and bittersweet cocoa on the finish, this is a beer to enjoy after braving the elements on a cold and snowy day. Check www.liquorconnect.com to see if your local liquor seller carries it, as this small brewer is still only available in select locations.
Even the megabreweries are jumping on the seasonal beer bandwagon, with the Molson-owned Rickard’s Dark just released wherever Molson products are sold. Rickard’s Dark is made in the style of a medium-bodied English Porter, with a dash of Quebec maple syrup to complement the robust dark malts. This one is sure to be popular, just due to the sheer might of the Molson marketing juggernaut, so be sure to try one if offered.
Granville Island Brewing (also owned by Molson) puts out their Lions Winter Ale about this time every year, and has long been a favourite beer for those dark and stormy winter nights. This beer starts out in the style of an English Brown Ale, but then has hints of cocoa and vanilla added during the brewing process, making it like a grown-up version of the hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows that we all enjoyed as children.
My favourite winter beer is a new concoction this year, and was released at the end of November by Victoria-based Phillips Brewing, which has made your humble narrator’s short list of preferred brewers several times in the past. This year’s new release is the Polaris Milk Stout, a velvety-smooth stout brewed with lactose, which gives it a creamy finish. The beer is dark and full-bodied, with subtle hints of chocolate malts.
With so many different Xmas-themed beers, your humble narrator follows an annual tradition of making up his own beer-themed Advent Calendar.
I begin on December 1, opening a single seasonally appropriate brew from a different brewery each day, until the grand finale on December 25 with a bottle of Samichlaus, also known as the Santa Claus Beer.
For those readers not familiar with Samichlaus, it translates directly from the German into Santa Claus, and is a whopping 14% ABV lager that is brewed only one day per year, on the historical feast day of the 4th-century Saint Nicholas, then aged for 10 months and released just in time for Christmas. If I’m feeling particularly festive, maybe I’ll even leave a bottle for Jolly Old Saint Nick, instead of those dreary milk and cookies!
