The holidays are a time for celebration, complete with food, fun and flowing beverages. If you are a beer connoisseur, scanning the coolers for the perfect holiday lager can be quite overwhelming.
With so many colorful, distracting labels and festive flavor combinations to choose from, it can seem nearly impossible to choose the perfect holiday brew. The following five ales, IPAs, saisons and sour beers are created by New England brewers and perfectly balanced to suit any palate this season.
1. Untold Brewing Company, Retail Therapy
Scituate, Massachusetts’ first and only brewery offers several East-meets-West beers from its hometown and Seattle-born creators. Their Retail Therapy IPA was first tapped on Black Friday to give holiday shoppers some “liquid respite” from the madding crowds. The deep brown color is concocted from Cascade, Columbus, Simcoe, and Citra for a “roasty, hoppy holiday IPA”.
2. Samuel Adams, White Christmas
Sam Adams offers a wide variety of festive ales and stouts to enjoy during the holiday season including Amber Bock, Oatmeal Stout, Old Fezzywig and Chocolate Bock. Their unfiltered White Christmas Ale has a crisp wheat character infused with cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange peel for a warm, holiday flavor that manages to remain light and refreshing. Available from late October to mid-December.
3. Springdale Beer, Fresh Boysen
Springdale Beer is an offshoot of Jack’s Abby Brewing in Framingham, MA. Their Fresh Boysen is a fruity, tart, but not-too-sweet golden foeder sour aged on boysenberries in red wine barrels for an entire year. Each bottle has the equivalent of 1/4 pound of boysenberries. The website calls it “a perfect entry sour beer for those who have never tried one.”
4. Mystic Brewery, Table Beer
The label may be decidedly un-festive, in keeping with the minimalistic Mystic branding, but the flavors are perfect for holiday pairings. The Chelsea-based brewery got its start in 2009 and has become a major player in the industry. Table Beer is a lower alcohol saison option with notes of grass and orange peel to please all palates and make family dinner a bit less awkward.
5. Harpoon Brewing Company, Winter Warmer Specialty Holiday Ale
This dark ale is spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg for a distinctly Christmas-y aroma and flavor. Brewed since 1988, the medium-bodied beer is a New England seasonal favorite with a hearty malt backbone. Available on tap at the Harpoon Brewery in Boston and all across New England in 6 and 12-packs of bottles or cases of cans.
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