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Leave Santa some seasonal suds

Everybody does cookies and milk; catch the big guy's attention with one of these specialty beers.

By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published December 14, 2005

	Samuel Smith’s, Winter Welcome Ale	Rogue, Santa’s Private Reserve Ale	De Dolle, Stille Nacht, Essen	Sierra Nevada, Celebration Ale
	Het Anker, Gouden Carolus Noel, Mechelen	Wychwood, Bah Humbug Christmas Ale	Lost Coast, Winterbraun Ale	Dunedin, Christmas Farm Ale, Dunedin
	Avery, Old Jubilation Ale	Dubuisson, Scaldis Noel Speciale Ale,	Mahr’s Brau, Christmas Bock	Huyghe, Delirium Noel, Miele

Beer is not the reason for the season, but the season is a fine reason for beer. In the beer year, starting with bold spring bocks then moving on to summer saisons and wheats, then to coppery Oktoberfests, holidays are the grandest season. Christmas, holiday and winter bottles bring out the best in brewing and often a different best every year.

Anchor Steam made its first Special Ale for Christmas in 1970 and brought a centuries-old European tradition to American craft beer. Many micro brews burst with cinnamon and clove like Christmas cookies; Europeans like them deep and rich to ward off winter's chill. All are plump with alcohol, as much as 14 percent, whether the bottles are big or tiny.

Beer lovers, like Palm Harbor collector Ken Koenig, scour Tampa Bay beer stores every winter for yuletide ales. Because of their long fermentation and high alcohol, he can cellar beers of Christmas past and present to savor on holidays yet to come.

Here's a 12-pack to brighten your fridge or slip into a stocking. Look for them at liquor stores. Local pubs decked with boughs of holly will have other treats on draft.

- CHRIS SHERMAN, Times food critic

A Yank version of an English strong ale, dark walnut with hints of chocolate and caramel with sharp hops on the finish. Nice and naughty, too.

Virtually no head (very stille) in a tiny bottle but it's a powerful vintage, more port than beer. Tastes thick, rich and slightly candied with bright, citrusy hops, like a Christmas orange on a snowy yule. Extreme holiday.

Another baby bottle packed with malt, extra hopping and careful fermentation that provides a great head, dark color and a sweeter taste. It's as smooth and balanced as a Cognac. Christmas dinner in a bottle, a jewel to savor.

Dark chocolate brown with the best head, proof that it's made close to home. Chocolate colors the palate and nose with sugar and spice. Pipers and Leonard Croon, other Dunedin offerings, go a-wassailing.

A great Belgian ale, coppery and as rich and warming as oatmeal with hints of dried fruits. Top-fermented and fermented again in the bottle a la champagne, it has sweet elements of sherry and spiced rum. Christmas breakfast this year and next.

Actually lighter than other Deliria, it still has a thick head and strong amber color. Taste is sharp, but it uncorks with a rousing pop and the pink elephant trunks curl around candy canes. Good for sharing.

Chocolate everywhere - in the color, in the foamy head, in the aroma and in the taste, like a spicy Mexican cocoa. Skip the marshmallows.

A serious bock that is heavy and rich and spicy balanced with a solid edge of hops. Delicacy from the Old World.

Reddish ale with candied malts in the forefront balanced by strong piney hops in the end. Bracing as a Northwoods winter, warming as a campfire.

A label festooned with snowmen and W. Shakespeare wraps this bottle as fancy as any on Boxing Day. This English ale is rich and strong, yet spicy hops balance quite crisply.

An ale with strong head and hefty punch, it's got more spice than sugar and finishes with vigorous hops and cinnamon freshness. A glass for the gingerbread man.

A rich, ale heavy with malt and high hops to match and a warm, spicy pleasure. In addition to the brewery's witch embossed on the bottle, label includes the wisest brewer's note, a personal bah to humbugs: "Don't be a misery . . . go on, enjoy yourself."

[Last modified December 13, 2005, 12:38:07]