We Wish You a Beery Christmas

Editor’s Note: After a fine three-year run covering almost every brewpub in the area, the Brew Review column is being retired with this issue. Joel will return occasionally to report on developments in the Bay brew scene.

Yet another reason to love the holiday season is the annual emergence of seasonal holiday beers offered at most local breweries. In order to report on some of the more unique brews that will be available this year around the Bay, I contacted several of the local breweries to see what they would be serving. Expect most of these beers to be big and bold, with lots of flavor and higher alcohol content than normal. Many breweries also integrate holiday spices or assorted fruits in their seasonal offerings, making it by far the most interesting time of the year to be a craft-brew connoisseur.

Available in bottles throughout the Bay Area are the annual seasonal offerings from Anchor Steam and Pyramid Brewery. Dark, rich and full of flavor, Anchor’s 2008 Christmas Ale marks the 34^th annual release of this spiced holiday ale. Each year’s top-secret recipe is slightly different, as is its label. Also available is Pyramid’s Snow Cap Ale, which 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.

Moylan’s Brewery & Restaurant in Novato recently released its holiday seasonal, Moylan’s White Christmas Spiced Winter Lager, in both bottles and draft. A crisp, clean lager with just a touch of spices, this Christmas beer is a nice brew, perfect for getting beer lovers warmed up for the holiday season. Brewmaster Denise Jones is very pleased to continue her work on perfecting Moylan’s holiday release and introducing a new dimension to the recipe. She has produced, without a doubt, a fine holiday offering.

This winter, Thirsty Bear will be pouring its 2007 Bearly Legal Barleywine, aged with biscuit notes and featuring a dry, sherry-like finish at 10 percent ABV. Thirsty Bear also has the new Winter Blasphemy, a dark, fruity and malty Belgian-inspired ale currently fermenting but expected to finish at 8.5 percent ABV sometime in late December.

The holiday brew at San Francisco Brewing Company is called Christmas Cheer; it’s a dark, porter style ale brewed with a wide variety of hops and malts that give it a robust, spicy character, but with no spices other than hops.

The Calistoga Inn Restaurant and Brewery will be once again serving its annual holiday offering, Blitzen IPA. It is a smooth IPA landing at 7.3 percent ABV, with abundant amounts of Cascade hops and East Kent Goldings in the finish. They are also serving a new Belgian-style Saison, which will be immediately followed by a Belgian Dubbel that will go on when the Saison finishes up.

Beach Chalet’s Brewmaster Aron Dorsey told me that he is working on a concoction with a working title of It’s the Great Pumpkin Wheat. This special holiday brew will be a wheat ale with roasted pumpkin, honey, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In keeping with a time-honored tradition, Magnolia Pub & Brewery is celebrating the arrival of the holiday season with the release of its 2008 Winter Warmer. It’s an uber-traditional expression of an English strong ale, showcasing imported Maris Otter malt over spice. The 2008 edition is 7.8 percent ABV, deep mahogany in color, and very rich and malty with nice residual sweetness. The pub only has 200 gallons to get to Christmas, so hurry and try some before it’s gone.

This is in no way a complete list of all of the holiday beers available in the Bay Area, but it should serve as a nice starting point. Also, because these special beers are always made in limited quantities, be sure to call in advance to verify the availability of holiday beers. Some of these special beers may not be ready to serve yet, while others can go faster than you expect. However, if you plan ahead or just get lucky, you are likely to find some of the best, freshest and most unique beers presented this year. And let me be the first to wish you a very Beery Christmas and a Hoppy New Year!