Winter Seasonals

[Ray Grace]

I absolutely love this time of year when the breweries put out all their Winter Seasonals and Holiday beers. I start to get really excited in October keeping an eye out for these beers. In the past couple of weeks I've enjoyed SN Celebration, Stone/Nogne/Jolly Pumpkin winter ale, Nogne Winter Ale, and Deschutes Jublale. What winter seasonals does everyone enjoy and any recommendations?

[Rob DeNunzio]

Oh man, where to begin...

No, seriously. I have no idea where to begin.

Which of the Nogne ones did you have? I thought this one was particularly interesting. What did you think of the Stone/Nogne/JP collabo?

How about a round of Belgians for starters? St. Feuillien, St. Bernardus, Achouffe, Scaldis and Fantome all make exceptional Christmas-specific ales.

[Ray Grace]

The Nogne I tried was just called winter ale, it's just in the last month that I've even been able to find Nogne beers in my neck of the woods, looking forward to trying more.
The Stone collabo was pretty good, very complex with multiple different flavors, a definite sipper that reallllllyyyy sneaks up on you. I'm looking forward to trying another bottle and seeing which of the different components I can pick out
I really like the St. Bernardus Christmas ale which I haven't found yet this year. Last winter, I tried to try as many of the Belgian Christmas ales as possible, the St Bernardus was my favorite, needless to say I didn't even come close to trying them all.

I've also got bottles of this years and last years LA Gift of the Magi that I'm really looking forward to comparing.
Rob DeNunzio said:

Oh man, where to begin...

No, seriously. I have no idea where to begin.

Which of the Nogne ones did you have? I thought this one was particularly interesting. What did you think of the Stone/Nogne/JP collabo?

How about a round of Belgians for starters? St. Feuillien, St. Bernardus, Achouffe, Scaldis and Fantome all make exceptional Christmas-specific ales.

[Mark Sheftick]

We don't have all the greats in my neck of the woods but my Winter rundown has gone something like this:

Flying Dog K-9>Schlafly Winter ESB>Breckenridge Christmas Ale>Boulevard Nutcracker>Sierra Nevada Celebration>Schlafly Christmas (which I do not like.)

[Maxwell]

YuleSmith by AleSmith ranks very, very high imo, a must for hop heads. I also like Snow Cap by Pyramid.

[Ragutiene]

Ninkasi did their Oatis Oatmeal Stout infused with Vanilla Bean as a Winter Seasonal...
probably one of my favorites so far.

[KegGremlin]

I've tried a lot of Belgian Christmas ales, and Corsendonk's Christmas Ale still stands out to me. Great Divide's Hibernation Ale is one of my new favorites, and Dogfish Head's World Wide Stout and Fort will always have a special place around the holidays.

[gisbrewmaster]

Hi All,

I was in Phoenix for thanks giving and they have this really cool liquor store called Tops and I picked up 5 winter/fall seasonals they are:

1. Winter Solstice - Anderson valley (Booneville Beer)
2. Winter Bourbon Cask Ale - Michelob (I like to find some more financial friendly specialty beers)
3. Our Special Ale (Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2008) - Anchor Brewing
4. Jubelale 2008 - Deschutes
5. Brrr Seasonal Ale - Widmer

I haven't tried any of them yet. I may chill one of these down and try one this weekend.

[Jinja]

I really enjoy the Brrrrr from Widmer this year - it is what I am drinking now. Anchor Christmas and Sierra Celebration are classics, and we usually pick up some Jubelale, WinterBraun, WinterBock, Winterhook, Ebenezer, Brown Shugga, Winter Solstice, Wassail, and Snowcap. We drink them all. We usually move onto the barley wines in January and February (SF Beer Week!).

Jinja Out

[Scott Lloyd]

Try the St. Bernardus Christmas Ale......A Belgian abbey ale. Received a bottle for Christmas.....Unbelievable! Haven't tried too many holiday specific beers, but I notice a couple of others have mentioned the ST. Bernardus. Seems I got a good one by other people's reckoning as well.

Thanks for the friend request!

[Dave Classick Jr]

definitely try the Winter Solstice from Boonville brewery.. its amazing.

also, Alaskan Winter ale ( which is purported to be brewed with spruce tips) tastes like chocolate covered raspberries. its probably my favorite winter beer ever!

[Damien Lawrie]

I got to try 20 winter seasonals this christmas and wrote a little about them on my blog. The ones that stood out to me were Fantôme de Noël, Anchor Our Special Ale, Shiner Holiday Cheer (a big surprise), Avery Old Jubilation, Lake Superior Old Man Winter Warmer, and New Belgium 2 Below.