1st Annual Holiday Drinking Advent-ure Calendar

Or as Beard likes to call it “Holiday Drinkvent Christmacalendar!” (he likes to combine parts of words into ridiculous shit) The last two years we have enjoyed an advent calendar full of gin aptly named, The Ginvent Calendar. It was a fun way to cap off every night (or morning…just kidding, we’re not alcoholics) by opening the little box to see what our gin was that day. Most of the time it was something we’d never had before, or at least didn’t recall having. Gin also happens to be our favorite spirit, so it was fun to get to try 25 different ones for a month.

This year we decided to try something different, but still get into the spirit of Christmas and Advent. Does Advent have a spirit? We really enjoy Christmas beers once it actually starts getting cold, so we decided to run the gauntlet through 25 different Christmas/Winter beers that are available in Northeast Ohio (and some that we found on our recent trip to New York). Personally, I really like Christmas beers. The Beard? Not so much, mainly because of the spices. So, some of these will be a real task for him, but I’m really looking forward to it. We normally try a bunch, but we can never remember which ones we’ve had, liked or disliked. So we figured this would be a good way to keep track and document our favorite ones for the year. But, who likes drinking alone? (again, not alcoholics) So, we’ve enlisted the aide of two other beer-loving couples to join us for this crazy holiday (sleigh) ride:

HOW IT WORKS:

• Each couple provides 3 sets of 8 different Christmas or winter themed beers (3×8=24 beers to give out). This took us some time to figure out because math is hard: Each couple will split 1 beer per day for 24 days. We could have had each person get their own beer, but that’s a lot of beer for each person to drink/buy. We did it with 6 but it can easily be done with less, or 12 or 24…but do you really have 24 friends? Stop bragging, it’s Christmas.
• We then numbered the beers and put them in a fancy, decorated box which serves as the calendar.
• After everyone drinks the beer we will discuss our thoughts and feelings on the beer via text, call or FaceTime.
• Beard & Broad will try and post every day about the beer, its history and our thoughts.

Before we continue with our review of the first beer meet the other couples participating in this fun Holiday event:

Adam & Alex
Alex likes her nutcrackers glittery, Adam likes his decorations traditional and they both like their Christmas beers to be warm and comforting like the season itself.

Mez & Sam

Day 1: Great Lakes Christmas Ale

We wanted to start with a classic. Revered by many as THE Christmas beer in Northeast Ohio and now widely available throughout the season, people still wait in line (almost inexplicably) for its release at Great Lakes every year. Though the number of breweries in the area seems to increase every year, and every one has their own version of a Christmas beer that may or may not be better than GLBC’s, this is still the benchmark for every Christmas beer that makes its way into Ohio.

Per GLBC’s website, the flavor can be described as “a Yuletide’s worth of holiday spices and sweet honey to keep you a-wassailing all season long.” Check it out here!

REFLECTIONS

Beard & Broad
Beard: Pleasantly surprised by it this year.  I know it’s supposed to be the same recipe every year but that’s some holiday bullshit.  Definitely tastes…beerier(?) than in year’s past.  Aroma is the same as I remember, but it doesn’t have that cloying overly spiced taste I’ve come to expect.  Nicely done this year, looking forward to enjoying multiple then riding a random yard deer this holiday season.

Broad: I love this batch of Christmas Ale. The recipe tastes different every year and this year may be my favorite batch. I think its the perfect wintery mix of spices and delicious ale. Its not my favorite but this classic is up there

Adam & Alex
Adam: GLBC Christmas ale – I get lots of honey, cherries and cinnamon. I used to think it was the best Christmas beer but now I more consider it the middle of the line. A nice introduction to Christmas ales in general to people who haven’t tried many

Alex: Great Lakes Christmas Ale was the first Christmas beer I ever tried (many moons ago) when Adam and I moved in together downtown, so it’s very homey to me. It tastes like honey and cinnamon and feels warm and cozy.

Mez & Sam
Mez: GLBC Christmas Ale no longer holds a top spot for me when it comes to holiday brews, but it will always hold a top spot for me with holiday tradition. The flavor is good, not great – I don’t get the strong profile Adam described but a muted version with a slightly harsher finish. But while it might not be the tops on flavor, the tradition of a Christmas Ale during the holiday season as someone from NE Ohio will always keep it as one of my sentimental favorites

Sam: I first had GLBC Christmas ale a few years ago and really enjoyed it. To me, this year’s Christmas ale is not as good. I find it much more bitter, and thats not my thing.