Day 11: On Tour Brewing – Apres
As you notice in the video, I had no idea how to pronounce this beer. After further review, Apres not only is a smooth black lager, but also a term used by skiiers. This explains the epic artwork on the can with a skeleton version of Santa hitting the slopes. Apres is a very smooth, dark lager that is a solid choice for the holiday season after being out in cold temps regardless of if you’re skiing or just out and about.
Day 12: Riverlands Brewing – Reindeer Diesel
I have enjoyed just about every beer I’ve had from Riverlands. However, they are very big on hazy IPA’s, so I was really excited to try a stout of theirs. Reindeer Diesel fits the description to go along with the beer name. You taste the perfect amounts of cinnamon and coffee in this oatmeal stout. This was my favorite beer from days 11-15 and one that I hope Riverlands brings back in future years with a bigger batch as I would be buying it regularly during the holidays.
Day 13: Mikerphone Brewing – Two Front Teeth
Another personal favorite brewery of mine is Mikerphone. The music themed beer names and artwork is top notch to go along with some delightful beers. Mikerphone took this Christmas song and designed my favorite artwork from days 11-15 with Santa having his two front teeth being replaced by hops. Two Front Teeth is a simple, yet delicious pale ale brewed with Azacca hops, which are a very popular type of hops for winter pale ales and IPA’s. I was able to enjoy this beer without losing my two front teeth.
Day 14: Buzz Bomb Brewing – Krampus Doing Krampus Stuff
Krampus Doing Krampus Stuff is an American Honey Brown Ale. As you can guess it poured brown in color to resemble Krampus roaming the neighborhood looking for misbehaving kids. The artwork was simple yet got the message across that I needed to behave while reviewing this beer otherwise I might not make it to Christmas. Buzz Bomb did a great job of adding in honey to this beer to give the beer some sweet flavors. The ABV of this beer being 9% is very deceiving. The good news is this isn’t a beer that you should be drinking several anyways. This is more of a beer that you enjoy one or two of so as to not overkill your pallet with all of the honey.
Day 15: Penrose Brewing – Sweaters and Coffee
Sweaters and Coffee is a dark ale brewed with whole bean soul loco Ethiopian coffee. I have no idea what any of that means but I do know that I always enjoy a beer with coffee in the brewing process. The artwork was top notch to tie in to the beer name as the label revealed a classic ugly Christmas sweater. I appreciated that Penrose didn’t try to make this a stout and instead went with an ale. It is very common for breweries to make coffee stout, so it was nice to see something different. The coffee notes were spot on and Penrose crushed it with Sweaters and Coffee.
-BrewHandLuke
