"seasonal beer" news and stories

I'm a brew lover, especially at this time of year when beer companies release their seasonal holiday special beers. They tend to be dark, spicy, complicated, high alcohol, and unusual; all the things I like in a beer. I just ran across a Daily News article about thirty of them that got my taste buds roaring in anticipation. These tend to be sipping beers with alcohol levels at around 10 percent or more!

Some of my favorites in the past have been Anchor Christmas and New Year's Ale, De Dolle's Stille Nacht, La Moneuse Special Winter Ale from Brasserie de Blaugies, Huyghe's Delirium Noel, Corsendonk's Christmas Ale, Affligem's Noel Christmas Ale, Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale, Goose Island's Christmas Ale, and Brasserie Dubuisson's Scaldis Noel.

After reading the article I realize that there are dozens out there I haven't tried yet. Well the weekend is coming up in a few days and I think I will have to head to a few of my favorite pubs in NYC like d.b.a's whose motto is "Drink Good Stuff" (They have locations in NYC's East Village and New Orleans) and The Gingerman (with locations in NYC, Greenwich, CT, and several in Texas) or the White Plains, NY Lazy Boy Saloon or a few other of my haunts, where I know they will have plenty to sample, both on tap and in bottles. I may have to give a call to one of my fellow bloggers who lives in the area so we can raise and lower a few pints or three for the holidays. Hmmm ... it's just a few more days 'til the weekend, I hope I can make it.

Source

It started a few years ago when some of the large breweries started putting out microbrew styled seasonal and specialty brews. Now it has become big business. We already know that Miller is releasing a chocolate flavored beer in limited numbers in the mid-west through the end of the year. Anheuser-Busch also has a chocolate beer in its Michelob Celebrate line, which started last year with its vanilla oak beer. They will also have pumpkin ale out this fall and vanilla-flavored bourbon ale to be released for the winter. Blue Moon, a Coors company has long been known for its seasonal beers especially the pumpkin.

Expect to see many more flavored beers coming out over the next year or two. The most popular are pumpkin, honey, vanilla and nuts. I love the fact that the big breweries are brewing craft styled beers. I have home brewed beer, cider, and mead since college and I worked in a brewpub in grad school. I'm a big craft beer fan and enjoy my high quality brews with big natural flavors. The more people that get exposed to great beer, the more that will be made, all to my benefit of course.

One of my current favorites is Samuel Adams with their limited release Brewer Patriot collection which I tried several times recently and thought both interesting and tasty. These are traditional brewing styles from young America that may not be to everyone's taste, but show how vastly different craft style beers can be. There are four beers in the collection: Traditional Honey Ale with ginger, lemon peel, and honey at 5.5% alcohol, George Washington Porter with molasses and licorice (unknown alcohol level), James Madison Dark Wheat Ale with hand-smoked malted barley (unknown alcohol level), and 1790 Root Beer Brew with herbs, spices, vanilla, honey, and molasses at 5.5% alcohol.

Source