The holidays are upon us and it’s time to pick up all of your celebrating needs. For me this means a trip to the store to pick up some of my favorite winter warmers and Christmas beers to share and enjoy while decorating and celebrating the season. While pondering all the choices I began to wonder where these delectable creations came from and what they are made of so I did a little homework and found that: 

1. Winter warmers and Christmas beers have several different definitions and come from several different back grounds and traditions. 


2. These beers stay by you longer than a summer thirst quencher; these brews tend to have a higher ABV and deliver more nutrition. They’re heavier and thicker due to less water in the mix.


3. Oftentimes these beers enhanced versions of the brewery’s flagship. In other cases it’s a medium-bodied dark beer with full-flavored spices. Many feature large amounts of dark and black barley and the hops are usually understated with a few startling exceptions like New Belgium Accumulation and Sierra Nevada Celebration.


4. Yeasts winter warmers can range from wild to clean and usually adjuncts are used, but not limited to, fruit, spices, herbs, chocolate, honey, candied sugars and pretty much anything the brewer can dream up to create some wonderfully amazing and wild flavors.


5. Depending on where you’re from in the world depends on the history. If you’re in the USA, there were several breweries that, in 1935 shortly after Prohibition, produced holiday beers. But they were not available year after year. In 1975 Fritz Maytag brewed a special ale with a new recipe as a gift for his family and friends. This beer was—and is still—known as "our special ale." It is a uniquely spiced winter warmer with the recipe changing slightly every year, just like the label of a hand drawn evergreen tree.


6. If you’re in Belgium, the Benedictine monks would save special ingredients or spices that were rare and expensive and add them to the mix to create a brew bigger and bolder than anything else  they had in their repertoire to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Living in Florida we don't really fall into the winter category, however I do agree with Men’s Health when they wrote, "Choosing a beer is a lot like dressing yourself; you don't have to take the weather into consideration, but you’re going to be a lot happier if you do." So taking the weather and all I had learned into consideration, I headed back to the store and chose several brews hoping they will become favorites I can add to our yearly tradition. In no specific order, my holiday beer list is:

• Ommegang  Abbey Ale


• Samiclaus


• He'Brew Jubilation


• Scaldis Noel


• Great Divide Hibernation


• Sierra Nevada Celebration


• Founders Backwoods Bastard


• Cigar City Winter Warmer Warmer than winter

Now the question is:  Will you take the weather into consideration and find a winter warmer to warm you? Or will you stay with a warmer weather beer?

Happy holidays and happy celebrating!

Heather Fassett, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits Beer Consultant

Follow her on Twitter @abcbeerheatherf