With Winter, Christmas, Chanukah and a whole mess of other holidays right around the corner, it's time to start getting into the festive mood! And, what better way to do that then to drink some winter or holiday craft beers! We went through a whole mess of seasonal brews so that we could tell you the official DrinkCraftBeer.com Winter/Holiday Beer Recommendations. Without further ado, here's the beer: 

Sam Adams Winter Lager

This venerable favorite often goes overlooked in the world of craft beer. Sure Sam Adams is the 800lb gorilla in the industry, but that doesn't mean they still aren't putting out some good beer. We're all about helping the little guy, but that doesn't mean we should ignore good beer from the bigger guys.

Appearance: Clear dark amber with a light head
Smell: Smooth typical lager, slight breadiness, slight sweetness

Taste: This is a great winter session beer and is very balanced, not spiced and is overall very smooth. There's nothing extreme about it, and that's why it works. Sure winter is a great time for big stouts, barley wines and robust porters, but you don't always want one of those. Mild roastiness evolves into a smooth sweetness. An excellent winter drinking beer.


Rogue Santa's Private Reserve Ale

Appearance: Dark Amber fluffy off white head with large bubbles
Smell: Grassy hops with a slight hint of malt

Taste: Nice up front hops, which fade off to a smooth finish. This isn't what you'd normally expect from a winter or Christmas themed beer. This beer offers nice grassy hoppiness without being overwhelming in any way. Hoppy beers generally aren't this smooth and that's what really makes this beer fit in for the later months of the year. The hops add a bit of slickness to the mouthfeel, and the fact that it seems to disappear shortly after drinking make Rogue Santa's Private Reserve a good session beer for the winter months! Available in both 6 packs and bombers it fits in for almost any occasion and with a fun label to boot it's great to bring to your friend’s holiday parties.

We here at DrinkCraftBeer.com are working to help the craft brewing industry and the brewers who make it. We love to give exposure to any new beers we've tried and liked. Beer costs money, though, and we're not made of it... not by far! Luckily sometimes breweries will send us sample of new offerings that they are excited about. We're not going to ignore any of these, but we are going to be 100% honest about them... especially since we don't get any advertising spend or money in any form from any of them. This section will have a little bit of both, beers we've bought and beers we've been sent to try. 

We'll give you any information we have about the beer (basically the style, anything interesting about the story, etc...), some quick tasting notes, then we'll each give you our frank assessments of how we liked it. Hopefully this new feature will help! So, with that said, on to the beer!

Flying Dog K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale

Appearance: Dark Ruby-Brown

Smell: Smeet malts with a tiny hint of fig

Taste: VERY smooth, very low bitterness, though it does have a touch of roasted malt flavor. Smooth and very mild vanilla tones as well as notes of dried fruit, can't say if either of those are actually added, but the flavors are there. A bit metallic on the finish, but not in a bad way. A very unique finish, that neither of us can really pin down

Devon's Take: I really like it and wish we had more. I'm not one for sweet beers and this definitely has some sweet tones but the smoothness and slight bitterness of the malt really balance this beer for me. It's not over spiced like many other winter beers and for that it makes it a good beer to have a few of for me.

Jeff's Take: I thought it was pretty good. Up until the finish it's pretty great. I don't love the dry raisiny metallic finish, and for that I'd probably get sick of this after one or two. A good beer that reminds me of a dark English pub ale, although I probably wouldn't session it. One of the better winter offerings, though, as it doesn't have spice and is smooth as hell.

Flying Dog Collaborator Double Bock
(Check out OpenSourceBeerProject.com for Flying Dog's story about this beer)

Appearance: Brownish Copper in color with a tan quickly dissipating head.

Smell:Very sweet and bready with mild hints of alcohol

Taste: Both of us were actually caught off guard on the first taste. With a double bock you expect a certain malt sweetness and roundness to the flavor. This beer is a bit of a surprise and doesn't taste nearly as sweet as it smells and also has a stronger hop finish that many double bocks out there. Lower carbonation that is indicative of the style.

Devon's Take: To be honest, I'm not sure where I stand on this beer. First off, I'm not a fan of double bocks in general, though there are exceptions. I do really like the finish of this beer. The hops are nice addition but for me there seems like there's something missing, but I can't put my finger on it. I think if it was a little more viscous that might do it.

Jeff's Take: I took my first sip and was quite surprised... thinner than a double bock and hoppier. More of a hoppy Oktoberfest almost. I dig it and could drink a good bit of it. Easier to drink than a traditional double bock... It's like a session double bock, and I'm a fan.

Flying Barrel Aged Horn Dog Barleywine
(This is a very limited batch of their Horn Dog Barleywine that they aged in whiskey barrels, only available at the brewery. We were lucky enough to receive some.)

Appearance: dark and cloudy

Smell: Whiskey. A LOT of whiskey. Strong oak tones and a hint of vanilla

Taste: The whiskey is surprisingly controlled, while it's definitely there the lack of booze coming through tones it down a lot. This is a very sweet barley wine and if you go in expecting aggressive hops you'll be disappointed. However, if you take this beer as it is, without any preconceived notions, it's quite good. It's incredibly smooth and somehow covers all of the booze. Neither of us can recall a a barley wine that covers the booze this well. TONS of vanilla on this one and a good bit of oak. Almost no carbonation... slick, smooth and pretty interesting. This would be great to split after a big meal.

Devon's Take: There's a lot of whiskey in the nose which is almost overwhelming. This beer took me more than a few sips to figure out. In the end I liked it though, but only in a 6oz serving I'd say. It's quite sweet and a bit viscous, with very intense flavors would be better paired with food.

Jeff's Take: Holy whiskey! So much vanilla oak and whiskey in this, without any booze! I'm not a whiskey fan, but I love whiskey barrel aged beers. I think this is a really good one, too. The whiskey taste is surprisingly subdued. I would love to drink this again... as long as I can split a 12 oz bottle with somebody else.

So that's our take, what's yours? Be sure to let us know over in the forum.

Founders Brewing has been open for just over 10 years now and in that time they’ve garnered national acclaim for many of their beers. The Kentucky Breakfast stout has an almost cult following selling out before it even hits the stores in many cases. Our trip out to the Midwest certainly wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the brewery. We stopped by a day before our interview with Dave Engbers just to relax and try some of the beers only on tap at the pub. Our bartender, Melissa, was great and let us sample a variety of their tap offerings. For those of us not fortunate enough to live near Grand Rapids, Michigan, let's just says we’re missing out. We found a Frangelic Stout, a rich stout with hazelnut tones that was incredible, along with one of the best porters we’ve ever had. We returned the next day eager to ask about some of these offerings and if we’d see them in a bottle. It’s here where we meet up with one of the owners of Founders Brewing Company, Dave Engbers.

So, once a year, we here in the United States gather with family and friends to celebrate how thankful we are for a good harvest... OK, so nowadays, it's more just to celebrate everything we're thankful for... OK, so Thanksgiving is a good excuse to stuff yourself with good food, watch football (for those of you who choose to) and drink craft beer with family and friends. Well, we can't help you with football, and we don't focus that much on the food, but we can help you make sure you tie a buzz on with good craft beer so you can tolerate all the family time! We realize there's a few stages to the day, so we've made a few picks that we strenuously taste tested for your satisfaction. Remember, these are just recommendations and most craft beer has only a limited distribution range. Because of that, after each of our picks we've included alternatives that we endorse. Or, just find something by your local craft brewery in the same style. In the end, as long as you're drinking good beer on Thanksgiving, you'll probably have a good day! 

Football Time (AKA What You Drink During the Day Before the Meal)

This is a beer you're going to want to be able to drink a lot of. Whether you're watching football, the parade or just hanging out, you'll probably want something light and crisp that won't fill you up. More taste, less filling? Yes please, but we're not talking about any beer with commercials and an ad agency behind it. Our recommendation on this is Stoudt's Pilsner. Made in Adamstown, PA, this is a great pilsner made by people known for making great craft lagers.

Stoudt's Pilsner
Appearance: Light pale color with a whispy white head

Aroma: Nice light malt tones with a hint of hops.

Taste: Crisp clean, refreshing with perfect bitterness. The hops come through but are not overwhelming in any way, you can, and probably should, have more than one... and enjoy each as much as the one before it.

Other options: New England Brewing Company Atlantic Amber, Offshore Brewing Co. Amber Ale, Victory Prima Pils, Brooklyn Lager or Pilsner, etc...

Salad/Soup Drink

For this first course, you'll want something light and crisp that can go well with a vinaigrette dressing or something with a little bite to it. We think something with a decent hop bitterness will counter pretty well... just don't overdo it with a crazy Double IPA and kill your taste buds. A good pale ale or IPA should do it. Our recommendation: 

Sierra Nevada Harvest Fresh Hop Ale (From Craft Brewers Get Fresh With Your Hops)

Appearance: Redish amber, thick off white head

Aroma: Hoppiest of them all very fresh smelling, piney aroma

Taste: No doubt this is a Sierra Nevada beer. What up cascade?! While very good, it doesn't have that fresh hop feel that the Great Divide did. That aside, $5 for a a 24oz beer this good is a deal and it still has a more complex and rewarding flavor than a typical pale ale or ipa. In Sierra Nevada Fashion it is a bit more bitter than most on the backend, but it's exactly what you'd expect.  

Other Options: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Dale's Pale Ale, Wachusett IPA, New England Brewing Company Sea Hag IPA, Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale or Finest Kind IPA or if your local craft brewer makes one along these lines, check it out. You shouldn't be too hard pressed to find something good in this style. Seemingly everybody makes one!

Main Course Drink

For dinner, you'll want something with enough flavor to stand up to the slightly gamey turkey, tart cranberry sauce, buttery mashed potatoes and stuffing. But, you also don't want it to fill you up too much. Almost anything Belgian style will work. The spice of the yeast and bold flavors will stand up fine to the meal, even in lighter Belgian beers that won't fill you up. Our recommendation: 

Ommegang Hennepin Saison

Appearance: Golden straw, hazy, light white head

Aroma: Citrusy, sweet, hint of spice

Taste: Smooth, a light sweetness, spicy hop finish, and a the tell tale earthy spicy finish you'd expect from a saison. Bold enough to stand up to a hearty meal, without making you too full to eat it.

Note: This particular example of a Saison is a little sweeter than usual. There are many other saisons that are less sweet and more spicy. If you want something drier, try anything by Fantome from Belgium, Red Barn by Lost Abbey in California or Bam Biere by Jolly Pumpkin in Michigan. Or, if your local craft brewery makes a saison, give it a shot. Basically we're just recommending this style for the meal... a good saison, at least, that is. 

Other Options: Anything by Fantome, Red Barn by Lost Abbey, Bam Biere (or almost anything) by Jolly Pumpkin, Allagash White or Dubbel, or something local. Just remember, not to filling, full flavored and spicy.

Dessert Drink

For dessert, you'll want something sweet to match up with pie, chocolate or what have you. A chocolate stout on Thanksgiving can be the perfect finish to a meal. Which you choose is really up to you. It will go great with vanilla ice cream (on pie), anything chocolate or a myriad of other sweet desserts. (For a special treat, try making a beer float... Basically just a scoop of ice cream in a chocolaty stout). Our recommendation: 

Rogue Chocolate Stout
Appearance: Dark, frothy head that dissipates quickly

Aroma: Sweet, light chocolate, notes of sweet pipe tobacco.

Taste: Lighter than most, which will be nice after a big meal when many of us barely have room to fit in dessert as it is... An excellent compliment to a chocolate dessert, a fruit tart or vanilla ice cream. The oats really help this beer's mouth feel; it has a great smooth body that goes down great. In the finish of this beer, you can taste a slight hoppy taste, but it's not bitter. Just a nice slightly piney hop taste that compliments the chocolate as the beer warms. 

For those of you that have been reading for a while you might recall we drank this in summer as a chocolate stout float made with vanilla ice cream.

Note: Make sure to let this beer warm up before you drink it. If it's too cold, it definitely doesn't taste as good as it can. Seriously, drink this around 50-55 degrees F. You'll lose so much flavor if you drink it too cold. 

Other Options: Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Young's Double Chocolate Stout (from England), Stone Imperial Russian Stout or many others. Any good chocolaty stout will do. Check to see if your local craft brewery makes one!

This brings us to the end of Thanksgiving. Go take a nap or just lie on the couch and watch TV. It's a restful time, haha. Digest the food. Just remember, never Drink Craft Beer and drive! Have a good Thanksgiving everyone!

And, straight from the mouth (or, rather, keyboard) of Larry Bell, here is the news that makes our last two Bell's stories make sense! 

Bell's is currently in negotiations with two wholesalers to bring beer into Illinois. These two wholesalers would cover a very specific territory and distribution would not cover the entire city of Chicago. Initially, a handful of draft accounts will be started. At that time we expect to be sued by National Wines and Spirits of Indianapolis to stop distribution. The Executive VP of NWS has told me he intends to make a lawsuit as lengthy and as costly as possible. It will be up to the judge. So.. we may be back as Kalamazoo, we may be back as some other name, or we may not be back at all. Thank you to all who have been driving to Woodman's and others in WI, IN and southern Michigan. Please do not beermail me, as I will not be able to answer them for awhile. Just stay tuned as this thing plays out.

Larry Bell
President
Bell's Brewery, Inc.

Past stories on this:
Bells Brewing Company Introducing Two New Beers...For Illinois?
Another New Bell's Beer for Illinois?

 We here at DrinkCraftBeer.com say good luck Larry and Co.! Someone needs to work to make franchise law more fair! Distributors shouldn't have all the power. It's a system that worked in the past, but is now outdated and needs to be looked at again.

UPDATE WINNERS ANNOUNCED 

Well, while I admitted defeat earlier, I actually did call the winners accurately! The winners of the Samuel Adams LongShot Contest 2007 were:

 - Mike McDole - Double IPA
 - Rodney Kibzey  - Weizenbock

I was right all along! Supposedly the Double IPA is a Pliney the Elder clone... Can't wait to try that. And I always love a good weizenbock. Look out for this pack!

Oh yeah, and the Employee Winner was the Grape Pale Ale... I was hoping for the Rye IPA with Honey as we brewed one of those as our second recipe ever, but oh well. I'm intrigued by this offering. As long as it's not Smuckers Jam and beer, it could be good!

PAST WRITING ON THIS SUBJECT: 
So, the results of the Samuel Adams LongShot Contest are almost ready to be made public. From their site:

The results are in!  Congratulations to Mike McDole of California, Rodney Kibzey of Illinois, Dave Pobutkiewicz of New Jersey, and David Jackson of Georgia for being selected as finalists in the 2007 Samuel Adams® American Homebrew Contest™.  All four will join us at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver where we’ll announce which two will be included in the LongShot® variety pack. 

If you find yourself at the GABF, please be sure to stop by the LongShot booth to meet the finalists and vote on the 3rd brew to be included in the LongShot variety pack from our Samuel Adams employee homebrew contest.  

We here at DrinkCraftBeer.com, however, already have the results (or at least a very good tip on them). I'm going to put my money on Mike McDole with his Double IPA and Rodney Kibzey with his Weizenbock! Although, the fact that the other two finalists were named Dave supports our theory here that Dave's brew beer. Check out our interviews if you want proof, there's a lot of Daves in there. But, back to the LongShot Contest, those are the labels they have received approval on from COLA, so that's what I'm betting on.

For the employee beer, I'm going to guess the Maibock will win, even before they do voting at the Great American Beer Fest. Good luck to everyone, but I'm pretty happy with those results. Samuel Adams could use a hoppy beer in their arsenal.

For those who care, the people who didn't win brewed:

Dave Pobutkiewicz - Helles Bock
David Jackson - American IPA

Let's see if my predictions pan out.

 *** OK, so looks like my predictions may have been a little hasty, to say the least. They have approved 4 labels for the Homebrew Contest, and 2 more for the employee contest, as well as a third keg label. Also, the regional winner who brewed a Helles Bock, his entry is now called a Maibock, hence the above confusion about it being an employee brew So, now we have the possible winners as:

HOMEBREW:
Double IPA
American IPA
Maibock (was reported originally as a Helles Bock)
Weizenbock

EMPLOYEE BREW:
Grape Pale Ale
Weiss Beer with Orange
Rye IPA with Honey

Good luck to all!

In late summer to early fall, hops are harvested from their vines. For the most part, these hops are saved for use throughout the year and even for subsequent years. They are pelletized or stored as whole leaf hops. Part of this process for storage is drying them. In the past years, however, some brewers have taken a new approach towards this time of year. They will use these hops fresh of the vine. 

What this means is they will have hops shipped overnight from the source to their brewery. The faster the better, as well. You need to use these fresh hops within 24 hours of being picked. Most hops for the US market are produced in the Yakima Valley in Washington State. You can see how this would be a lot of effort for a beer. Also, brewers have to use a lot more hops by weight than usual, as hops lose up to 80% of their weight in the drying process. 

A fresh hop beer when done right, though, is completely worth this extra work. It adds extra layers of hop taste and aroma. Much more floral, this is a brew that features hops as a flavor and smell, instead of mostly bitterness. A light malt base is all you really need with a lot of late hops. These work best as Pale Ales, in our opinion, as anything bigger or more bitter starts to overwhelm the fresh hop character. 

Since hops are produced mainly in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, you see them much more up there. Living in Massachusetts, we get precious few. We have, however, grabbed all that we could find and tasted them for your benefit. And, without further ado, here are the fresh hop beers! 

Port Brewing High Tide Fresh Hop IPA
Appearance: Hazy Dirty Orange Fluffy White Head
Smell: Fresh Hops...is that really a surprise?

Taste: A bit sweet, a lemony citrus flavor comes through quickly. Notes of the alcohol come through, unfortunately not in a pleasing way. A bit too bitter on the back end with not enough finishing hops to round out the flavor. 

Overall: Not our favorite. It's got a one dimensional lemony hop character that isn't very pleasing, and the alcohol comes through in a strange way. You taste an unpleasant and muddled bitterness in the back of your mouth. We expected more coming from Port Brewing.

Sierra Nevada Harvest Fresh Hop Ale
Appearance: Redish amber, thick off white head
Smell: Hoppiest of them all very fresh smelling, piney aroma

Taste: No doubt this is a Sierra Nevada beer. What up cascade?! While very good, it doesn't have that fresh hop feel that the Great Divide did. That aside, $5 for a a 24oz beer this good is a deal and it still has a more complex and rewarding flavor than a typical pale ale or ipa. In Sierra Nevada Fashion it is a bit more bitter than most on the backend, but it's exactly what you'd expect. 

Overall: This is a very good beer. We got pretty excited for it as Sierra Nevada makes great hoppy beers such as Celebration and Bigfoot Barleywine. This was excellent, but we'd hoped for absolutely astounding. Maybe we went in with expectations too high, it is Sierra Nevada afterall. That said, though, it's what the High Tide should taste like...at half the cost. We'll will drink this a lot before it's gone from the shelves. It's much easier to find than the Great Divide and nearly as good.

Great Divide Fresh Hop Pale Ale
Appearance: Clear amber, thicker off white head
Smell: Clean resiny hop aroma, less hop aroma than the Port High Tide, but a much cleaner smell

Taste: Sweet Sassy Molassy that's good! Just enough up front bitterness followed by delicious citrus notes and fantastic hop spiciness. The late hop additions are quite apparent in the beer and add a very nice depth. It has a very nice multidimensional flavor that makes you excited for each sip. It's clean, it's hoppy and has just the right bitterness to allow all the flavors to come through. The malt takes a back seat to the hops, but in a way that's balanced. The hops are the headliner, but the malt sets the show as a great warm up band (sorry we're musicians too, we make corny references sometimes).

Overall: This is a great beer! We'd love to session some Great Divide Pale Ale any day! This beer makes us sad that fresh hop beers are only seasonal. Whatever we taste next is going to have a tough act to follow.