5th Annual Holiday Drinking Advent-ure Calendar

Welp, the turkey’s been carved, the leftovers have been scavenged, and Starbucks no longer reeks of pumpkin spice. You know what that means: it’s our favorite time of the year, it’s time for the Annual Holiday Drinking Advent-ure Calendar! If you’re not familiar with this, check out our inaugural post from last year to learn about what this is and how it works. Also, Happy 4th Blogiversary to us! Thank YOU for hanging out with us these last four years. And if you’re new, thanks for stopping by! Grab your favorite Christmas beer and stay awhile.

How it Works 

Every year we host a little party to distribute the beers and go over the process with everyone. Depending on the amount of participants, the process is as follows:

• Each couple provides 5 cans or bottles of 5 different Christmas or winter themed beers (5×5=25 beers to give out).
• Each couple will split 1 beer per day for 25 days.
• It’s important to come with an order than makes sense. You don’t want to drink 5 IPAs in a row then 10 heavy spiced ales. Mix up the beers!
• We then number the beers and put them in a decorated box which serves as the “calendar”.
• Everyone has adorable, vintage Santa glasses from which to enjoy their beers, if they choose to.
• After everyone drinks the beer we will discuss our thoughts and feelings on the beer via text, call, email or FaceTime.
• Beard & Broad will post every day about the beer, and a little background and our thoughts.
• At the end of the calendar, we will post our final reflections.

Last year we switched things up and only bought Ohio beers. This year, we decided to open it back up to any beer that was Christmas, holiday, or winter-esque in design, name or style. We found out there’s many a new holiday beer available in Ohio now, so we’re excited to see if we find any new favorites!

This year we also have a new addition to our holiday journey, Heather Tunstall! (and Brad.) Not to put any pressure on them, but they’ve already shown a great deal of holiday spirit during the planning phases, so we’re looking forward to their thoughts on this holly jolly holiday gauntlet we have before us.

Meet the Group

Beard & Broad
What’s your favorite Christmas movie?
Beard: Gotta go with the classic, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. This kind of goes back to my family watching it on repeat and wearing out our VHS copy when I was growing up. Honorable mention: Die Hard and Trading Places.

Broad: This is SO hard. We have a rotation of like 5 movies we watch almost every day until Christmas. If I had to pick, it’s Trading Places.

What’s your favorite Christmas song?
Beard: Tie: The War is Over by John Lennon, and All I Want for Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey. I don’t care what you say, every person, man woman or child, is happy when they hear this damned song. It is the epitome of the Christmas spirit in song and I will fight you till I die.

Broad: I Wish It Was Christmas Today by Julian Casablancas but I’m also obsessed with the SNL version.

What’s your favorite Christmas tradition?
Beard: My family is Polish, so Wigilia is something I look forward to every year. It’s a traditional Christmas eve celebration in Polish families and we eat some of my favorite things ever. We start by sharing oplatki, a wafer made from flour and water, and wishing each other “health, wealth, and happiness” in the coming year. Then comes the peaches and prunes as an appetizer. I don’t know if this is necessarily part of every Wigilia, or something my grandma made up to get more fiber and to use up prunes. From there the meal consists of (as my brother and I pointed out to each other recently) white foods filled with starch: pierogi, boiled potatoes, smoked fish, sauerkraut, and the coup de grâce of the entire meal and something I look forward to for 364 days out of the year, this cream of mushroom soup that my family has made for generations that has to contain at least an entire package of butter, a gallon of heavy cream, and a shit ton of mushrooms. It is the richest most satisfying thing I have ever eaten and nothing says Christmas to me more than a near scalding hot cup of this creamy goodness.

Broad: My favorite Christmas tradition starts when we come home from Thanksgiving dinner. We decorate the house, start watching Christmas movies and drink a good bottle of champagne.

If you were a Christmas beer, what would you be?
Beard: In general, a porter or something Belgian and boozy. If I had to choose something specific it would be Columbus Brewing Company’s Citra Noel or Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale. I’m actually not a huge spiced beer fan and these once a year releases really hit the spot when I need something hoppy in cold weather.

Broad: Fat Head’s Holly Jolly. It’s one of, if not, my favorite Christmas beer. It’s light, full of flavor and has the right amount of Christmas spirit. It’s not over the top but also not super subtle, like me,

Any other fun fact?
Beard: I’m a person that loves variety but I could watch only Christmas movies from Thanksgiving to December 25th and be a very happy man.

Broad: I’m truly obsessed with every single Christmas episode of The Office.

Adam & Alex
What’s your favorite Christmas movie?
Adam: Christmas vacation. It’s the GOAT.

Alex: Love Actually or Just Friends

What’s your favorite Christmas song?
Adam: Fairytale of New York by The Pogues

Alex: Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Darlene Love

What’s your favorite Christmas tradition?
Adam: Christmas Eve at my mom’s house with the entire family.

Alex: Christmas Movie Night with friends aka Saucemas.

If you were a Christmas beer, what would you be?
Adam: Great Lakes Christmas ale. It’s not my favorite but it’s the traditional Christmas beer we think of and Christmas traditions mean a lot to me. They conjure up so much nostalgia and, really, GLBC Christmas ale does the same for me. It reminds me of all the memories and traditions I love.

Alex: Thirsty Dog 12 Dogs of Christmas.  It’s a classic Christmas ale that is brewed in Akron, near where I grew up. Also I love dogs, so it’s perfect.

Any other fun fact?
Adam: I recently rediscovered a pair of truly exceptional Christmas joggers in my closet.

Alex: It would be a dream come true if the Nutcracker Ball from The Night Before was a real thing.

Scott & Christa
What’s your favorite Christmas movie?
Scott: National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.

Christa: My basic heart loves “Love Actually.”

What’s your favorite Christmas song?
Scott: Christmas Eve/Sarajevo by Trans Siberian Orchestra.

Christa:“All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey in the car and “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree” at home.

What’s your favorite Christmas tradition?
Scott: Watching Christa have child-like wonder when opening gifts.

Christa: It’s a tie between watching the entire Harry Potter series with my husband  / opening Christmas presents at midnight Christmas Day with my parents and siblings.

If you were a Christmas beer, what would you be?
Scott: Great Lakes Christmas Ale, because love me or hate me, I know what I am and I will never change.

Christa: Citra Noel, because I am a little zesty, a little unexpected, but still comforting and warm at the same time.

Any other fun fact?
Scott: I can drink Christmas beers 365 days of the year

Christa: My taste buds have changed since having my son, so I am interested in trying new beers again this year to see how I feel about them now.

Tony & Megan
What’s your favorite Christmas movie?
Tony (“Tinseltoes”): Christmas Vacation.

Megan: Elf or White Christmas.

What’s your favorite Christmas song?
Tony: Rockin Around the Christmas Tree.

Megan: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan. It’s fun and not overplayed on the radio.

What’s your favorite Christmas tradition?
Tony: Making homemade pizzelles with my Dad.

Megan: Baking cookies with my sisters.

If you were a Christmas beer, what would you be?
Tony: Sierra Nevada “Celebration Ale”

Megan: Lately, I feel like I would be a Mad Elf beer because if any of you guys have ever planned a wedding, you’ll know that the last couple months is a lot of running around like mad trying to cross things off the list but it’s been so much fun and I can’t wait for the big day!

Any other fun fact?
Tony: Can’t wait to do that and so pumped for another season of the beer advent-ure calendar!

Megan: Tony “Tinseltoes” and I are getting married this December, so this holiday has an extra special meaning to us. We’re definitely in the holiday spirit already and can’t wait for this season of Christmas beers! Cheers!

Brad & Heather
What’s your favorite Christmas movie?
Brad: This is tough. Don’t laugh, but I love cheesy 90s Christmas movies like Jingle All the Way or I’ll be Home for a Christmas with JTT and Jessica Biel. If you don’t accept these lame answers then my normal go to is Christmas Vacation (just like every other person).

Heather: Love Actually.

What’s your favorite Christmas song?
Brad: Do They Know it’s Christmas- Band Aid 1984 or anything on the 98 degrees Christmas album.

Heather: Linus & Lucy.

What’s your favorite Christmas tradition?
Brad: Every Christmas Eve, my family, including cousins and aunts/uncles, gets together and drinks way too much whiskey. We always play Euchre and typically wear very, very strange hats.

Heather: Christmas Eve family time. Games, drinks, exchanging gifts with my hubs and wrapping the kiddo’s presents.

If you were a Christmas beer, what would you be?
Brad: Anchor Christmas. It changes every year yet, it’s always awesome.

Heather: I’d be Thirsty Dog’s 12 Dogs of Christmas. Fun on a bell curve — I’m a fan favorite for the first five or six drinks, but after that, things can get dicey.

Any other fun fact?
Brad: I enjoy pizza.

Heather: I don’t wear real pants or makeup for the entire week between Christmas and New Year’s, except every few years when I go out on my birthday (Dec 27).

Make sure to check back tomorrow and every day after for the next 24 days to read our reviews on the 25 different beers!