Yet another reason to love the holiday season is the annual emergence of the seasonal holiday specialty beers offered at most local breweries. Here’s a list of a few of the holiday beers available thi

Anchor Brewing Company – 1705 Mariposa St, San Francisco (415) 863-8350 The 2007 Christmas Ale marks the 33rd annual release of this spiced holiday ale. Dark, rich and full of flavor, each year’s top-secret recipe is slightly different.

Published: December, 2007 

Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant

Beach Chalet’s Holiday Ale is a dark ale brewed with seven different grains including wheat, oats and rye. It is infused with cinnamon, cardamom seeds, orange peel and juniper berries during the kettle boil. ABV is 7.5 %.

Gordon Biersch San Francisco will be serving Winterbock. It is a dark doublebock lager, served unfiltered. ABV is 8%.

Magnolia’s Winter Warmer is a traditional expression of an English strong ale with loads of malt character. No spice in this, it’s really a straightforward, classic winter warmer.  ABV is about 8% and the beer has a deep mahogany color.

Hoppy Holidaze is brewed with Pale, Wheat, Caramalt and Munich malts, and hopped with Sterling and Styrian Goldings varieties. Delicately spiced with canela, nutmeg, mace, orange peel and pure vanilla extract.

White Christmas Witbeer is malty and smooth, with a light tart and zesty finish. This year’s beer contains holiday spices, Curacao, mace, cinnamon, coriander, tangerine peel and white pepper. Made with lager yeast instead of the traditional Belgian style yeast the, resulting clean flavor makes this beer much more approachable for mainstream beer lovers. This beer is also available in stores for a limited time.

Snow Cap Ale is 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.

Christmas Cheer is a full-bodied, complex brew roughly in the style of a porter. Although Christmas Cheer is not spiced, it has a spicy, malty character.

In December, ThirstyBear will feature their aged 2005 Bearly Legal Barleywine. With an ABV of around 10%, this beer is fairly dry and toasty rather than rich and malty. If rich and malty is what you are looking for, though, you should try the Winterbock Doublebock, which is a chestnut-colored winter lager with 7.7% ABV.