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Best Christmas Beers available in the USA

- The Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Christmas Ale is a repeat World Beer Championship Gold Medal winner. The full-bodied, spirited beer is copper in color and has a combination of cinnamon, fresh ginger, and sweet honey tones. Christmas Ale is crafted from American two-row wheat, roasted barley, and English crystal hops, among other ingredients and is designed to complement most holiday meals.

Anderson Valley Winter Solstice – From the first sip of Winter Solstice Seasonal Ale , your senses will be aroused with the vision of a glowing fire, warming the hearth and home, as gently drifting snow flakes silently blanket the trees outside. Each lingering sip will gently warm your soul with thoughts of family and friends, gathering around the table for the feast. Luscious, creamy, smooth, and warming, this medium bodied ale is brewed with Caramel and crystal malts to give it just a hint of sweetness, then paired with our private blend of holiday spice. Winter Solstice Ale is great alone or as an accompaniment to any meal, and it has been known to liven and spice up nearly any social event.   Pyramid Snow Cap – A rich, full-bodied winter warmer crafted in the British tradition of holiday beers. This deep mahogany colored brew balances complex fruit flavors with a refreshingly smooth texture, making Snow Cap a highly drinkable and desirable cold weather companion. Sweetwater Festive Ale – A full-bodied, high-octane brew capped off with our use of cinnamon and mace. This beer will warm you all the way to your bones. Brewed only one day a year for the holiday season.                                         

Sierra Nevada Celebration – The long, cold nights of winter are a little brighter with Celebration Ale. Wonderfully robust and rich, Celebration Ale is dry-hopped for a lively, intense aroma. Brewed especially for the holidays, it is perfect for a festive gathering or for a quiet evening at home.
Great Divide Hibernation Ale – Great Divide  cellars Hibernation until late October, when it reaches the peak of perfection. This lengthy aging process gives Hibernation its revered malty richness, complex hop profile and hearty warming character, which is perfect right out of the bottle or cellared for longer periods of time. Hibernation is a lively treat that really beats the winter chill. This scrumptious, collectible, and imminently cellarable ale is only available for six weeks each year, from November 1 to December 15.  Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome – This holiday brew is an amber-colored winter warmer that relies heavily on the rich quality of English pale malt. While its strength, at about 6 percent ABV, fits the bill for an old ale, its light color is a bit unusual for the style. It lacks the dark malt character of some of the others, but makes up for it with a clean, rich, malty backbone and the signature complexity found in all of Samuel Smith’s brews. Young’s Winter Warmer is a reddish-brown seasonal that measures just 5 percent ABV. It has some dark fruit esters and a malty chocolate aroma. It is exceptionally smooth.

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout – This brew is Brooklyn Brewery’s  rendition of the Imperial Stout style.  What is Imperial Stout?  In the 18^th century, Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, asked for stout to be sent to her from England. Fearful of spoilage on the long voyage to the Baltic ports, the English brewers made the beer strong, and added more hops as a natural preservative. It arrived in perfect condition, and became known as Russian Imperial Stout, the toast of the Russian aristocracy. We use three mashes to brew each batch of this beer, achieving a luscious deep dark chocolate flavor through a blend of specially roasted malts.
Santa’s Private Reserve – Rogue’s annual holiday offering, Santa’s Private Reserve, is a variation of the classic Saint Rogue Red, but with double the hops–including Chinook, and Centennial, and a mystery hop called Rudolph by head brewer John “more hops” Maier!This holiday elixir is brewed with two-row Harrington, Klages and Munich malts, along with Hugh Baird 30-37, Carastan 13-17, and Crystal 70-80 malts, plus free range coastal water and John’s proprietary top-fermenting Pacman yeast.
Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws - Doggie Claws is a Barley Wine made in the West Coast style. Big malt and hops make this copper colored ale one of our most popular products. Produced in September and October and released in November, this Beer will improve for years to come. Alcohol: 11.5% by volume. IBU’s 70

1. Porkslap Style: Pale Ale Brewery: Butternuts Beer & Ale, Garrattsville, NY

Don’t let the cartoon piggies tummy-thumping on the can fool you—Porkslap provides some serious suds action. Pour this classic American pale ale into a glass and you’ll notice its striking orange color. Take a sip and you’ll be struck by its malty, hoppy goodness. Pour some on your jeans and you’ll be all wet. Pork power!
2. Drifter Style: Pale Ale Brewery: Widmer Brothers, Portland, OR

A light and airy pale, Drifter is like an awesome roommate who pays the rent on time and can persuade any group of hot girls to head back to your place for an ¿after-party. Move this guy into your fridge fast. Your sex life just may depend on it.
3. Hoss Style: Rye Lager Brewery: Great Divide Brewing, Denver

An old-world Bavarian brew style in which rye replaces some of the barley, this plaid-frocked fun ¿punch epitomizes the genre: Sweet and crisp, with woody undertones.

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You want a budget beer.

With the dog days of summer in mind, we embarked on a challenge: Find and review a month’s worth of low-cost, simple beers. Are they all the same? Are some better than others? Do they all look alike? We found the answers: No, yes and pretty much.

We learned a few things along the way. Almost everyone — from beer snobs to casual drinkers — has a memory of these mostly long-established beers. People often told us, “I remember drinking that when . . .” Or “That’s the beer we used to buy when . . .”

About our methodology: We tried to avoid light or ice versions of these beers. We stuck mostly to lagers. All the selections are brewed in the United States and, despite some being regional beers, can be found at Northeast Ohio retailers. All are 12-ounce cans or bottles unless noted.

To see all our reviews, go through the photo gallery. See links below for our overall remarks.

Description: Free beer!  OK, so they’re not free. But they are cheap, and some are even worth drinking. Plain Dealer beer expert Marc Bona and Akron Beacon Journal brewmeister Rick Armon sampled a month’s worth of what they call “budget beers” — 31 low-cost, and often low-flavor, brews. Here’s their report.

See The Reviews in the Photo Gallery

Great American Beer Festival Web Site

Moods

Jeff: getting into the mood

Tracy: Mello – due to future tailgating

Oz: Chillin

Emily: Indifferent

Kurt: In between

First Impression

Jeff: Simular to an IPA, less bite

Tracy:  Not so bad

Oz: Should be drank from a boot

Emily: Bitter but good

Kurt:  Dark and Bitter

Overall Rating

Jeff: Like it a lot – A Top Oktoberfest

Tracy: No Idea That Oktoberfests could be that good – I’d buy this

Oz: Would drink it again

Emily: Not Bad

Kurt: A bit above my palet