Asheville Brewing Company's Christmas Jam White Ale - Beer of the Week

by Joshua M. Bernstein, Posted Dec 14th 2009 @ 5:00PM

christmas jam Photo: Jenene Chesbrough.

For more than two decades, Allman Brothers and Gov't Mule guitarist Warren Haynes has hosted Asheville, N.C.'s Christmas Jam, a rootsy benefit concert for Habitat for Humanity. While the event is an annual present for area music lovers, the Jam has now given beer geeks a dose of holiday cheer too.

In February, Mike Rangel, owner of Asheville Brewing Company -- which concocts standouts such as the chocolaty Ninja porter and the snappy, intensely citrusy Shiva IPA -- contacted Haynes' management firm about crafting a beer in conjunction with the concert. Sold. It was a collaboration from the get-go.

"We asked Warren and his wife to choose the style of beer," Rangel says. "They like wheat beers but nothing overly spicy or heavy. Their concern was that we create a beer that was easy to drink, accessible to nontraditional craft-beer drinkers and that people could drink a few over an evening without getting out of control."

So for the Christmas Jam White Ale, Rangel and Co. dialed up a low-alcohol (4.5 percent ABV), Belgian-style wheat beer dosed with coriander and orange peel. This aromatic treat is as cloudy as a San Francisco morn, with vibrant carbonation and a twangy edge that hums on your tongue.

Like the concert, sales of Christmas Jam (available from Asheville beer shop Bruisin' Ales) support Habitat. So go on, have a second bottle: It's drinking for a good cause.

What do you think of a beer brewed for charity? Spill it in the comments.

Joshua M. Bernstein has written about brews, bars and booze for New York Magazine, Time Out New York, ForbesTraveler.com and the New York Times.

Filed Under: Drink Recipes, Holidays, Beer
Tags: asheville brewing company, beer, christmas, christmas jam, christmas jam white ale, north carolina, winter