12 Beers of Christmas

We all know the song, "on the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me".... well, in my version my true love gave me beer, on every one of the each day before Christmas. Thus came my idea of hosting the 12 Beers of Christmas tasting.

I hit some local liquor stores (Parti Pak in Southport and Payless Liquors in Fishers), pulled some friends together and decided we'd all play commentary and rate the beers. 

Below are my 12 beers of Christmas 2013:

Bell's Brewery - Christmas Ale

Goose Island  Brewery - Christmas Ale 2012

Fat Heads Brewery -  Holly Jolly Christmas Ale

Three Floyds Brewing  - Alpha Klaus Christmas Porter

Breckenridge Brewery - Christmas Ale

Schlafly  - Christmas Ale

Lakefront Brewery - Holiday Spice Lager Beer

Anchor Brewing - Merry Christmas Happy New Year

Southern Tier Brewing - 2xMas 

Thirsy Dog Brewing - 12 Dogs of Christmas Ale

Bison Brewing - Organic Gingerbread Ale

Triton Brewing - Gingerbread Brown



 This was my first time getting a group togther for a more organized beer tasting. All of us like beer, some more than others, we all are just regular people, with no beer judging experience. We had a sheet of all the beers, and the descriptions from the breweries along with places for commentary and ranking.

Once everything was in place, it was time to drink some beer!

We started out with my favorite Christmas ale which is from Schlafly. I purposefully bought a six pack so everyone could have plenty of this beer. I personally think Schlafly makes the best two seasonals with Pumpkin Ale and Christmas Ale, so in this Christmas beer taste testing I'll admit I was bias and thought Schlafly would win all the way.  It actually wasn't the case. Between the four of us Schlafly actually tied for second with 3.8/5 Stars in our rating.  An overall thought was lightly spiced and a little sweet.


After the Schlafly we went down the list of beer after beer.
The bottom five out of the twelve were actually from some of the bigger breweries:

Pamela writing some commentary

Bell's Brewery - Christmas Ale - 2.9/5
Goose Island  Brewery - Christmas Ale 2012 - 2.8/5

Breckenridge Brewery - Christmas Ale - 2.5/5
Fat Heads Brewery -  Holly Jolly Christmas Ale - 2.4/5

Three Floyds Brewing  - Alpha Klaus Christmas Porter - 1.8/5

The five of us taste testing didn't have anything bad to say about these, they were light, pleasant. The Alpha Klaus was a little hoppy and it was actually the last beer in our ranking due to the bitterness. Some of the commentary was that it was "overpowering" and that the aroma is very strong. Alpha Klaus is the "cousin" of Alpha King.

Since those were the lesser of the 12, the top 7 where:

Lakefront Brewery - Holiday Spice Lager Beer - 4.4/5
Schlafly  - Christmas Ale - 3.8/5
Triton Brewing - Gingerbread Brown - 3.8/5

Southern Tier Brewing - 2xMas - 3.8/5
Thirsy Dog Brewing - 12 Dogs of Christmas Ale - 3.6/5

Bison Brewing - Organic Gingerbread Ale -3.5/5
Anchor Brewing - Merry Christmas Happy New Year - 3.3/5

Anchor Brewing - Merry Christmas Happy New Year

The Southern Tier one was interesting due to the addition of fig in the brew, that along with the culimination of spices is what made it one our tied for 2nd place beers. Another eye raising beer was the Anchor Brewing Merry Christmas Happy New Year because it had a pine scent yet most of the tasters said it tasted line raisins or and also a very heavy molasses flavor that weighed on the tongue. But what got me was the Lakefront Brewery beat my #1 favorite!

Lakefront seems to have a penchant for making lager instead of ales. This past fall I had one of their Pumpkin Lager beers. It was too light for me in the spice, but their Holiday Spice beer really made up for it. It was complex with the ginger, nutmeg cinnamon spices but had a nice addition with a twinge of citrus.



The nose complimented the flavor as well and the beer's color was nice and dark which is a delicious reminsces of a stout or  porter which is perfect for a cold winter night.  I actually had a the pleasure of trying this beer again on draft at Mass Ave Pub in Indianapolis and I can fairly say that the bottle is almost as good as fresh of the tap.





Now of course there are less that 12 days left til Christmas, but then again there are more than 12 Christmas beers out there to try. I highly suggest either trying one on our list or finding a new one and letting me know what you think. Tis the season for giving and sharing so let's share some wonderful reviews about some great beers.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Kathleen

Beers, Cheers, and Leftover Turkey – November 23

Apologies for my brief absence from the blog while other aspects of life got in the way. I’ll try to make it up with a bit of news and some extended ponderings near the end. As if the tryptophan wasn’t enough to put you in coma already…….

Congrats to Sun King and Three Floyds for taking home medals from the 2012 Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers competition. Sun King took a gold in Classic Styles with Afternoon Delight and silver in Strong/Double/Imperial Dark Beer with Pappy Fog while Three Floyds took the silver in Fruit Beer with Ronaldo. Best in Show went to Goose Island’s Cherry Rye Bourbon County Stout which was aged in rye whiskey barrels with whole Michigan cherries. If you’re near the Chicago area, Cherry Rye Bourbon County Stout will see a limited release there on Black Friday (initial reports had the retail price at $45 a bottle).

New Albanian’s Saturnalia winter solstice celebration kicks off today with the annual hedonistic pleasures found in rare, seasonal, and festive drafts from around the world. Delirium Noel, Boulevard Saison-Brett, Corsendonk Christmas Ale, and exotic selections from Lafayette and Munster are among the highlights of this year’s event. New kegs in the lineup will be tapped periodically through the month of December.

Founders isn’t kidding when they say their barrel-aged beers are cellared in the caves beneath Grand Rapids. Check out some great pictures here of employees mining for KBS and other assorted brewery pictures. Bottles of the 15th anniversary Bolt Cutter should be making their way to your neighborhood liquor store should you be interested in bribing the beer manager to procure a bottle.

Our friend Frank Petrarca paid a visit to Turoni's Pizzeria and Brewery in Evansville and offers the following review:

It appears to be a small-batch brewery and it was too late to get a brewery tour. The building was old, had lots of character and plenty of vintage signage and pictures gracing the walls. I ordered a 5-beer sampler for $5.75.

Vinny’s Lager- A good German-style Lager. Slightly grainy, smooth, no off-flavors.  Darned tasty.

Honey Blonde- Light crisp, but almost too sweet for me. Overall not a bad brew aside from the sweetness.

Thunderbolt Red Ale- Clean, Malty lots of flavor, maybe a little too much crystal malt for my liking but a good brew.

Blue-Eyed Moose IPA- Malty, Amber colored but maybe a little tame on the hop aroma and flavor.

Ol’ 23 Oatmeal Stout- Dark, chocolatey, a little heavy on the roasty side for me, low oats aroma and flavor but still good.

All in all the beers really pretty good. There were no off-flavors, very drinkable and pretty true to style. I ended up with a pint of IPA. My wife Theresa really enjoyed their Pumpkin Ale. Pints are $3.75 all the time!

But the  pizza absolutely blew me away. I grew up in the Chicago area eating thin crust, scorching hot pizza with real Italian sausage and great toppings. If you know me you’ll know I have made literally hundreds of pizzas. Some of you have been to my little pizza shindigs I’ve thrown and you know I enjoy great pizza- it’s one of my passions. Aside from the ones I make on the stone at home I have not had pizza like this since moving away from the Chicago area 31 years ago. Seriously… Good…. Pizza! (Not a description I throw around lightly either)

$5.75 samplers. $3.75 pints. Fast, attentive service even though they were packed. The BEST pizza you’ll find in Indiana.

Bottom line- if you ever find yourself in Evansville, Indiana go to Turoni’s on Main Street. When we return it’ll be our first stop.

Thanks Frank!

Chris Cooley was recently re-signed by the NFL’s Washington Redskins despite a failed contract negotiation that would have netted Cooley a case of beer after each game. Upon learning of Cooley’s predicament, Flying Dog brewery stepped up to offer a Shock and Awe variety pack for the remaining six games. So Flying Dog was able to generate a little publicity with this deal, but don’t expect Roger Goodell to formally endorse sponsorship from Doggie Style Pale Ale, Raging Bitch Belgian IPA, or Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout in the near future. This is wholesome family entertainment they’re messing with here.

A recent report from Time Magazine notes that the bastardization mainstreaming of darker, stronger beers appears to be well underway. AB InBev is rolling out a new family of lagers that up the ante at around 6% ABV including Budweiser Black Crown (actually an amber lager), Michelob Black Bock, and Rolling Rock Black Rock. But my personal favorite is definitely the Busch Black Light Lager option for budget drinkers. Yes, apparently there is pent up demand from college students everywhere for more intense hangovers and added color in their vomit.

In other Goose Island news, founders John Hall and Tony Bowker are stepping down from their roles of CEO and COO of the brewery. Stepping in to the CEO position will be AB InBev executive Andy Goeler, whose claim to fame includes attempting to trick craft beer consumers into buying a beverage so edgy it needs mohawk-sporting fruit to capture its essence. Cheers to Mr. Hall (who recently turned 70) for his success in developing the Goose Island brand and looking to spend more time with his family. I haven’t been one to ridicule GI based solely on the AB InBev acquisition, but this move places the brewery firmly under Anheuser-Busch managing control and it’s hard not to be cynical about the principles that will now drive the company’s future. The good news is that Goose Island leaves behind a fertile craft beer industry that is not under multinational corporate control…….yet.

It’s a popular debate in the craft beer world, but tensions between independent craft brewers and the macrobrewers that covet their growing market seem to be increasing. A recent article for CNN Money included the predictable arguments from the big brewers about the benefits of increased consumer choice and the arguments from independents about why you should care who makes the beer you drink. It ultimately comes down to the drinker and the intrinsic values they place in viewing craft beer as a community (albeit a rapidly growing one). Really, some of the same values are in play when you select a local brewery’s six-pack over the latest offering from a national craft brand. I’m one to believe there is a certain valuable culture inherent in supporting independent craft breweries that can’t be replicated in a glass of Blue Moon. Put another way, buying a ticket for a Broadway performance of “American Idiot” is not quite the equivalent of supporting independent punk rock. A former coworker once expressed alarm upon learning I was attending local punk shows and offered to start going along as my wingman, presumably as backup when the leather-studded heathens decided to beat my face to a bloody pulp just for showing up. In reality, there is a real sense of community among strangers at these shows and I’m more afraid of drunken frat boys at Jimmy Buffet. The point being that I prefer to think of craft drinkers as belonging to a culture of particular values that don’t always fit nicely into a defined corporate demographic. But maybe that’s just what I want to believe. And if you get tired of both sides, you can always just say screw it and make your own damn beer!

Cheers, Nathan

Beers, Cheers, and Sneers – September 20

There is a full slate of beer events to look forward to this Saturday headlined by the annual Festiv-Ale beer tasting event in Indianapolis and New Albany’s inaugural Indiefest, to which The New Albanian is contributing the Southern Indiana Craft Beer Showcase. Flat 12 kicks the day off with their own Summer's Bitter End re-tapping of the season’s special festival beers. And this month’s “Oktoberfest for all” campaign continues with Upland’s inaugural celebration at Military Park in Indianapolis while the Fishers Oktoberfest offers up the traditional lineup of Warsteiner, Leinenkugel’s, and Coors Light! Well, there will be live music. And it’s free.

To commemorate their 11,000th batch, Bell’s will be releasing an 11% ABV Imperial Red this month aptly titled This One Goes to 11. The beer features a cornucopia of hop varieties with Galaxy, Motueka, and Summer from the Southern Hemisphere and Simcoe, Citra, and the new Mosaic from the Pacific Northwest. Bottles will be released in six-packs which means it will likely be a small investment for the consumer, but pony up knowing that you’ve acquired 72 ounces and Bell’s still hasn’t resorted to overpriced bombers.

New Holland is using their line of premium spirits to flip the script on the trend of aging beer in whiskey barrels. Their Beer Barrel Bourbon is a craft Bourbon Whiskey aged for 90 days in oak barrels that contained their Dragon’s Milk stout. New Holland describes the final flavor as round, rich and pleasing with biscuit notes and a smooth malt character. Beer Barrel Bourbon will be available beginning October 1st.

For more barrel madness, Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout was released for distribution to Indiana this week. Conventional wisdom is that it will be easier to find this year as five times as much was brewed compared to 2011. We’ll have to see how that translates to the Indiana market as Goose Island has bumped up distribution ten fold in the Chicago market alone. If you’re in the Chicago area, there should be a release of Coffee BCS and Cherry BCS towards the end of the year.

Congrats to the Cicerone program for passing the 15,000 mark of graduating students. Student enrollment tripled in 2011 and is up another 60 percent in 2012. The Cicerone program encompasses all aspects of the hospitality industry. Students learn about beer styles, quality, and tasting but the program also expands knowledge on storage, serving, and food pairing. If you’re in the hospitality industry, or just want to expand your own knowledge, you can find more information about the program here.

Are you among the Rate Beer Reviewers/Beer Advocates of the world who believe that Westvleteren 12 is the best beer on Earth? I found this writeup on a blind tasting of Belgian Quads (or strong dark abbey ales if you prefer) to be a good read. Once the labels came off, Westie 12 and Chimay had somewhat lackluster performances. Granted, these are individual opinions that you may or may not agree with, but it raises an interesting question about how much our impression of a beer is enhanced by exotic ideas of monks brewing in a monastery or similar externalities.

Back in the 1950s when people had serious apocalyptic scenarios to consider (as opposed to the current imagined Zombie apocalypse that has taken hold), the U.S. government tested the effects of atomic explosions on soda and beer to determine if they could be used as an emergency water source in the wake of a nuclear attack. Scientists determined that radiation levels were “within the permissible limits for emergency use” (why does that not sound very reassuring) and as a bonus the taste tests rated the contents “acceptable”. To my knowledge there is no study validating the safety and quality of beer during a Zombie apocalypse, but I’ve been stocking up for years anyway. Better safe than sorry.

Ever wondered if you could open a beer using items like a wheelchair, skateboard, rake, machete, pick axe, or nail gun but didn’t feel like injuring yourself? Well, unsurprisingly a few people popped up on the internet that have your back and all the answers can be found in Bottle Cap Blues. Please be aware that the author’s comment “I encourage you to try it” is not endorsed by this site or most sane people in the world.

Cheers, Nathan

Round One (Wednesday) - Pre-BBC Beer Drinking Festivities

This past weekend was the Beer Blogger's Conference 2012, where over 100 beer bloggers from around the nation, and even a few from over seas, flocked to Indianapolis - this year's chosen city. We gathered from Friday night through Sunday afternoon for education, networking, and of course - drinking.


If I had only known what laid in store for me that weekend, I may have cut back days before, but certain opportunities can not be missed when scrumptious beer is available.


And thus it begins --


Wednesday --

Left - Pere Jacques, Right - Bourbon County

Once a month I try to do a beer meetup with some of my friends. Usually it is the tap takeover's that are at the Sinking Ship. This month, I decided to get a group together to meet up at the Beer Sellar for the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout and Pere Jacques tapping.  I figured the popularity of the Bourbon County Stout would be high, so even though the tapping didn't happen til 7pm, we were there at 6. Beer Sellar has a new deal now that a variety of about 15 taps on their wall are now $3 for a pint - everyday. (Previous deal was on Mondays and they had a special on Indiana beers on Wednesdays.)


First pint up for me was Brooklyn Brewery's Sorachi Ace - a light, crisp saison, which I recommended to two other friends. 


Then came the Pere Jacques and Bourbon County.  Those two were worth every penny of their $7 and $10 respective prices. I shared both of these as I could not have partaken both and walked out easily.  The Bourbon County had every complex layer of an aged stout, slowly sipped out of its snifter and felt every ounce of the 14.5% ABV. I actually enjoyed the Pere Jacques more. It was creamy, a caramel finish but also required a great deal of slow drinking.  


In capping the night off, I had a pint of Victory Brewing's Summer Love. Not my favorite of the evening; something about the American and German hops used in the Blonde ale was slightly harsh to my tongue.


Round One - about 3 pints of beer. 


Check out the next blog for Round Two!

Indiana Beer News – April 19

Voting is currently in progress to get your city on the ballot for the fourth annual BeerCity USA award. You can head over and vote for Indianapolis or write-in your hometown. I’m sad to report that when I voted we were getting trounced by several cities including…..ugh…..Cincinnati. Now I’m not trying to start anything here, but as someone who spent two years working on a project in the Queen City, it made my computer cry a little to see those losers even on the same page as us. Now get over to the voting page and help us put them back in their place (voting ends Saturday)!

The Brewers Association has released the Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies by beer sales volume. No Indiana breweries made the list, but a few of local interest include Bell’s at #7 (up from #8 in 2010) and Founders at #42 (unlisted in 2010). Also worth noting is the #11 spot which Stone Brewing took over from Dogfish Head. Stone distributes to Indiana. Coincidence?

Congratulations to Barley Island for winning last Saturday’s Brew Bracket with their Sheet Metal Blonde Belgian Wit. Also congrats to Rock Bottom Downtown for coming in second by just two votes with their El Jefe Wheat. If you missed Kathleen’s Facebook post, a great collection of photos from the event can be found here.

Good Beer Hunting has an outstanding behind-the-scenes pictorial of the barrel aging program at Goose Island. The narrative is a bit sparse, but does reveal that Bourbon County Stout is going into year-round production. For more barrel aging fun, Founders posted a somewhat vague photo of something called “project quince”. Your guess is as good as mine.

Here’s your chance to get hangover advice from a true professional – Larry Bell of Bell’s Brewery. You may have heard about Vitamin D and drinking water before going to bed (or at least good intentions of doing so), but milk thistle and sauerkraut juice? Don’t say you never learn anything here.

We don’t generally try to post all of the myriad tappings that occur around the state each week, but I make an exception when the beer name makes me laugh. So on Saturday, April 28th, head over to Upland and Rock Out With Your Bock Out! Actually, this is a bit more than your standard tapping as Upland will have an all day event open to all ages starting at 11am with a hog roast, lawn games, and live music.

We had a great event this past weekend judging beers for the Indianapolis 1st round regional of the National Homebrew Competition. Big thanks to Sun King for hosting the event for the third year (their Maibock and Mocha Mac currently on tap are very good). I’ll have a roundup of all the Indiana winners once the results from all regions are officially released in early May.

As Chief Steward for the NHC judging, I’d like to thank the following fine individuals for their assistance: Michelle Artmeier, Julie Bensing, Alfons Eggink, Gabe Enslein, Meredith Jones, Stacy Keister, Matt Lackner, David Massaro, Joe Milton, Glen Norris, Amelia Pflieger, Kevin Pritchard, Steve Quimby, Susan Rankert, Caitlyn Smeltzer, James Smeltzer, Chris Snodderley, Chase Snyder, Starla Steuerwald, Chuck Whybrew, and Matt Wisley. And special thanks to my assistants Ross and Val Graham. Ross and David are involved with the Indy Beer Meetup group and you can find their upcoming events here.

Cheers, Nathan

Indiana Beer News – March 29

This Saturday the Melody Inn in Indianapolis combines two things I tend to enjoy - Triton beer and punk rock. Triton will be debuting their line of bottled beer along with some specialty beers starting at 9:00. Music starts at 10:30 and features the psychobilly romps of Detroit’s Koffin Kats. The sitter is lined up and I’m ready to roll!

The mad geniuses at Fountain Square Brewery are rolling out their first annual Peep Show on April 6th. No, not the kind where you expect to find Miss Poppi. This Peep Show features a beer brewed with Peeps and the chance to show off your own design for a Peep Shooter (which shoots/catapults full-sized Peeps). I know a lot of you brewers are engineers, so this is a chance to show off your skills.

Andy at The Beer Is Good blog has posted a full beer list for the upcoming Blue Chip Brewfest on April 14th at the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City. VIP ticket holders will get the chance to sample the highly sought Bell’s Black Note Stout paired with mini cupcakes. Unfortunately it appears that VIP tickets are sold out, so you’re back to scrounging the resale market if you want in on that.

We previously reported on the progress of the “Three Floyds Amendment” legislation, so its worth noting that it was recently signed into law. It allows small breweries to produce more beer by excluding beer that is brewed for consumption and distribution outside Indiana from the cap of 30,000 barrels per year. Congrats to everyone involved in making this happen!

Here’s one for the category of good news that’s unlikely to surprise you. Despite a 1.32 percent volume decrease in 2011 for the overall beer market, craft brewers achieved a 13 percent rise in volume and a 15 percent rise in retail sales. No word on when they plan to count eBay Dark Lord Day ticket sales in the retail tally. You may find that last statement pointless, but it’s a proven fact that any mention of Dark Lord Day substantially increases our hit rate. Dark Lord Day……Dark Lord Day……Dark Lord Day

Results are out for the 18th Annual U.S. Beer Tasting Championship (USBTC) Winter Competition. The Bier Brewery in Indianapolis was a Midwest region winner with their Belgian Dubbel. Grand champion beers that you may be able to find in Indiana liquor stores include Founders Porter, Magic Hat Black Lager, New Holland Pilgrims Dole (Barleywine), Sam Adams Wee Heavy, and Victory V-12 (Belgian Strong).

If you’ve never cried over spilled beer, check out what happens when Goose Island barrels and a forklift do not work in perfect harmony.

More bizarre stuff from Japan – here is a machine that adds frozen beer bubbles to the top of your beer to keep it cold for about a half hour. Perhaps they’ve never heard of the American koozie.

Cheers, Nathan

Indiana Beer News – March 15

So this weekend brings us some basketball tournament thing and the always popular St. Patrick’s Day. Flat 12 and the Elbow Room have your back with festivities including a special Flat 12 Irish Amber (?), food, and parade viewing. Upland taps their Ard Ri Imperial Red tonight at the Indy Tasting Room. And of course we can count on the Claddagh to kick tonight off with a traditional….Claddagh's Got Talent?…..OK, well Saturday might be a little more promising if you enjoy Kegs and Eggs and U2 covers. JK O’Donnell’s has a nice looking St. Patrick’s celebration in Fort Wayne.

Our founder Bob Ostrander will be one of the highlights of the Indiana German Heritage Society’s annual symposium at the Athenaeum in Indianapolis. Bob will give a presentation on German Breweries in Indiana’s History at 1:15pm on Saturday, March 24th. A full schedule and registration form can be found here.

We’re still looking for BJCP-certified judges for the National Homebrew Competition first round at Sun King in Indianapolis April 13th – 15th. Please register at http://tinyurl.com/nhcindy2012 if you can help us out. I promise this will be the last time I bug you about this……maybe.

Andy from The Beer Is Good! blog gives us a recap of the recent Flat 12 tap night at the Fiddler’s Hearth in South Bend. Better try the Bleeding Heart if you get a chance!

If you made the trip up to Founders for the KBS Release Party, I sincerely hope you weren’t one of the last 362 people in line. The good news is their new 85 bbl brewhouse will enable next year’s release to be about three times larger.

Goose Island has plans to quadruple their barrel program and has acquired an auto body shop that will be used to expand their development of high-end sour beers.

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, Nike has managed to sully the holiday with their Nike SB Dunk Low aka Nike Black and Tans. No word yet on the curbing of other St. Patrick’s Day abominations==>

It’s going to be an interesting year for Samuel Adams with releases ranging from an interpretation of the rare Gose (goes-uh) style from Saxony to jumping on the Shandy bandwagon with Samuel Adams Porch Rocker. The latter will join Shock Top Lemon Shandy (from Anheuser-Busch), Labatt Shandy, Harp Lemon Shandy, and Saranac Shandy Lager and Lemonade to challenge top dog Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy for your thirst-quenching beermonade dollar. But SA can claim theirs is a “traditional Bavarian-style Radler” – 30,000 bonus Beer Geek points if you have any idea what that means.

And to spare you further sarcasm on the subject of Shandies in this column, I’ll redirect you to some choice comments from Roger Baylor here.

Carla at Hoperatives (Cincinnati bloggers) tipped us off on a self-frothing beer mug from Japan that can save you from the horrors of flat beer. A handy switch (available in yellow and black) lets you generate the desired level of froth “so you can really take your beverages seriously”. Now put down your snifter and get with the times!

Well, that’s enough for now, I’d like to shirk my blogging responsibilities to drink beer and watch basketball. Enjoy your weekend!

Cheers, Nathan