Asher: Superfly Oatmeal Stout
All-organic brewery Asher’s current seasonal selection is a roasty-dark stout with coffee and chocolate notes, to warm you up on a snowy day. Asher is unique in its dedication to using organic ingredients only, and so this seasonal selection is a relatively healthy one, as well as a tasty.
Avery: Old Jubilation
This mahogany-colored Winter Strong Ale is a seasonal tradition in my personal quaffing circles. Not technically holiday spiced per se (though there is a touch of the hazelnut there in its flavor profile), it still is a rich and delicious fireside beer for the colder months. Now that Avery has its brand-spanking new tap house, enjoying an Old Jubilation there might have to be a new addition to my tradition.
Fate: Yule Log
Fate is known throughout Boulder beer circles for its bold flavor combinations (that actually work very well! A coffee IPA? Crazy, but tasty), and its Yule Log ale is no exception. It’s an English old ale, packed with spices and brewed with dried cherries. It’s a flavorful beer that tastes like what fruitcake should be.
Speaking of a darn good fruitcake,
Mountain Sun: Naughty Noël
Naughty Noël is a spiced, Belgian style holiday ale that is lightly drinkable despite its 8.9% ABV. It tastes like the best fruitcake you’ve never had, because fruitcake never tastes this good, though it should. A spicily warming brew for Pearl Street people-watching through Mountain Sun’s big windows.
Sanitas: Stocking
Sanitas is offering another holiday-spiced beer this year: the Stocking ale. It’s more lightly spiced than other holiday-spiced beers, which keeps it from becoming too overpowering after a whole pint. A lightly flavorful, comforting beer to wind down with after a day of gift shopping.
Upslope: Wild Christmas Ale
Now, Upslope delivers every holiday season with its incredibly flavorful, festive Christmas Ale. A rich, warming, heavily-spiced confection, the Christmas Ale is always a good choice for winter cheer.
This year, however, Upslope has unveiled the Wild Christmas ale, a wilder version of its namesake. What makes it wild? It’s been aged in Leopold Brothers rye whiskey barrels, and dashed with a dose of candied orange in its flavor profile. The Wild Christmas ale is a strong one, so 4 large-sized cans purchased per person is the taproom’s limit.
Walnut Brewery: Barley Wine, (Sub Zero)
Walnut Brewery tapped their barley wine earlier this month, and it’s an unusual thing to find in a local brewery, so I wouldn’t miss a taste. Barley wine is strong like a wine, but tastes rich and roasted or grainy like a beer (depending on the brewery). Amongst all the warming holiday beers, a barley wine is probably the most warming of all, so if you feel cold this holiday season, go have a warmer. (Their other winter themed beer, the Sub Zero, will be tapped in early January so stay tuned.)
And finally — be sure to grab your Winter Warmer before it’s too late! $20 keeps you in 2-for-1 drinks specials all winter long around Boulder.
