11 Christmas Ales Ranked
Photos by Josh JacksonLike colored lights, carols and official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifles, we don’t like to talk about Christmas beers until Thanksgiving is out of the way. Sure, we’ll drink them year-round if you’re offering, but this is truly the season for the dark, malty, potent holiday beers that make our noël so joyeux.
We bought 11 beers at Decatur’s wonderful craft beer store, Ale Yeah so our selection was only limited to breweries that distribute in Georgia. Still, that left some amazing Christmas ales. Here they are, ranked for your holiday shopping convenience.
11. Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve
City: Newport, Ore.
ABV: 6%
Style: Red Ale
Key ingredient: Hops
Perfect for: Santa to put in your stocking if you’ve been naughty
The verdict: This is not a bad beer for a hoppy red ale, but it’s certainly done nothing to deserve Santa’s visage on the label. This is about as Christmas-y as baseball on a hot summer’s day.
10. Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale Brown Shugga Substitute
City: Petaluma, Calif.
ABV: 7.9%
Style: IPA
Key ingredient: Brown sugar
Perfect for: Christmas shopping (on Dec. 26)
The verdict: Props to Lagunitas to owning their mistakes, but Domino’s did that too, and there’s still nothing good about their pizza. Lagunitas, since it makes really great beer that people like to buy, didn’t have room at the brewery to make their regular Christmas ale. The Brown Shugga Substitute has hints of spices and, of course, brown sugar, but we look forward to their regularly scheduled holiday beer in 2012.
9. Sierra Nevada Celebration
City: Chico, Calif.
ABV: 6.8%
Style: IPA
Key ingredient: West Coast Hops
Perfect for: People who hate winter
The verdict: I know several people who refer to this as their favorite Christmas ale, but those people 1. are zealous hop-heads and 2. apparently don’t like Christmas ale. Sierra Nevada plays to its strength with an IPA, whose citrus notes recall your Christmas days back in Miami with the pink-frosted tree, singing carols along the beach.
8. Sweetwater Festive
City: Atlanta
ABV: 8.5%
Style: Winter Warmer
Key ingredient: Cinnamon
Perfect for: When you start thinking Christmas has been overdone.
The verdict: As a winter warmer, this gets closer to the holiday spirit without the bold flavor of some of the higher-gravity beers on the list.