This is Beer in Front, part of the Odd Pods Media Network. Sometimes
the beer in front of you is the best one yet. I'll talk about
beers that maybe we've forgotten about. I'll also talk to people around the beer
world, getting their stories all about beer. That's Beer in Front and it's
coming up now. Welcome to the December fifth edition, episode eighty nine of
Beer in Front. I'm your host, Dave's Alatorus and Beer in Front is
a proud odd Pods Media Network member. On this show, I'll be having
some different holiday beers. Every brewery, it seems, has one, so
I'm going to have three classics plus a newer local one from Illinois. What
is your favorite holiday beer? Please email me daveatbeerinfront dot com or find me
on social media channels at beer in Front. Let me know in the next
week. I'm also going to do a holiday cider episode, so keep an
ear out for that. I think everyone who listens to this watches the video
clips over on YouTube and TikTok. If you'd like to support the show,
visit patreon dot com slash beer in Front for more details. The big beer
news of the week is that the Alchemist is coming up with a twentieth anniversary
version of their iconic Heady Topper. This will be a ten percent beer and
it's clear it's only going to be brewed four times this year or within the
next twelve months, and it's curbside only for twenty dollars a four pack.
I need to get to Vermont. This holiday season, Miller High Life is
celebrating their one hundred than twentieth anniversary. They're teaming up with Lining Google for
a Strawberry Lagger, which is inspired by strawberries and champagne. This is only
going to be available at the barrel Yard. I think that's sponsored by Lining
Google at the stadium where the Milwaukee Brewers play. I don't know. They
change their name. So wherever the brewers play, there's a line in Google
barrel Yard if you want to check out the Miller High Life Strawberry Lagger.
Finally, Boston Beer Company is coming out with a new one. It's called
the General Admission Brewing Company. This is going to be non alcoholic, and
it's going to be forty percent of a non alcoholic beer and sixty percent fruit
water. They're only going to test this in certain markets early next year to
see how this does. Alright, The beer that I'm want to talk about
now is a favorite. This is the twenty twenty three Celebration Fresh Hop IPA
from Sierra Nevada. It's only out October, November, and December. If
you look on social media when people get this for the first time, everyone's
posting a picture of their first celebration of the year. I've been drinking this
beer for more than twenty years. I look forward to it whenever it comes
out, and for a holiday beer, it doesn't have the spices that you
normally would associate. You don't have your nut meg, cinnamon, cranberry orange.
It's just an old school ipa six point eight percent alcohol. They use
Cascade Centennial in Chinook cops that are picked fresh and brewed right away to get
that fresh hop flavor. So while this is not a tread additional holiday beer,
you could only get this around the holidays. And I'm gonna bust open
Sierra Nevada's Celebration Fresh Hop al Celebration is such a good beer. They use
some caramel malts in here, so it has a little darker of a color
than your traditional West Coast IPA. Nice foam here. The smell is great.
You get the nice piny citrus of aromas here that you would get in
your traditional old school West Coast IPA. That's great. I mean, it's
perfection right there. You get the big hop flavors, you get the bitterness
at the back of the tongue. It's all right there. It's a perfectly
balanced beer that you get all of the sensory notes all over, beginning,
middle, and end. This is the perfect beer. I mean, if
you don't like IPAs, then eh, well fast forward to the next segment.
But if you're an IPA fan, you have to grab Sierra Nevada's celebration
sixty five IBus on this. It's just a tremendous beer. Yeah, that's
It's just perfection and a glass right there. Now. I got lucky.
I picked this up at my cost go for twenty nine ninety nine for a
case of bottles in the cart. Usually you could find it all over.
You can get it at your chain liquor stores, your bottle shops, your
grocery stores. I have not seen this in my grocery stores yet this year.
I've seen it at bottles and cans and I pick them up, you
know, maybe two three weeks ago, but I haven't found it at my
jewel or Mariano's where I normally go grocery shopping. But luckily for me,
Costco had it. So if there is a Costco near you, you got
to throw this one in the cart, especially thirty bucks for a case of
twenty four to bucking a quarter of beer for one of the best beers in
America. If you like old school IPAs, you can only get this,
you know, October through December, So pick this one up, put it
in the cart. It is a winner, all right. Next up is
more of a traditional holiday Christmas ale. This is Great Lakes Christmas Ale.
This is made with spices and honey. It has seven point five percent alcohol
thirty IBus. Great Lakes Christmas Ale has fresh honey, cinnamon, and ginger
flavors. They also have a barrel aged version that I tried at Faux Bab
and you could pick that up in four packs. I've had it, did
a video view on it that is spectacular as well. But this Great Lakes
is always one of my go to's every Christmas season, So let's bust open
the Christmas Ale from Great Lakes Brewing Company. The Great Lakes Christmas ale has
a nice, beautiful color, nice foam here, good carbonation. Yeah,
you get all those spices in the aroma, it really smells good, smells
like Christmas as a wonderful aroma. Yeah, that's just so good. It
just tastes like a Christmas ale. Should you get all of those flavors in
there that you really only get this time of year you're not drinking. I
guess you could, but you're not drinking a Christmas beer with the honey and
the cinnamon and nutmeg and ginger and all of those flavors. You're not really
drinking though in August, so it does remind you of the holiday season when
you drink this. It is just a really really good beer. Yeah,
that's just fantastic. You can't go wrong with that. Every year when this
comes out, I definitely grab it. You could pick it up everywhere like
here in Chicago. Not only can you pick it up at your binnies,
your chain liquor stores, you could grab it at your grocery stores, bottle
shops, you know, wherever you find Great Lakes you're able to see this.
And I normally get it at my grocery stores because they usually have a
promo when it comes out, but like if you're in the Chicago area,
you can go to any jewel and pick up The Great Lakes Christmas Aale as
soon as it comes out. It's a phenomenal beer for the Christmas season.
If you see it, definitely put it in the cart. I think this
is a great holiday beer. So if you're into holiday beers, pick up
the Great Lakes Christmas Ale. Hello friends, this is an AI version of
John. Lauren has the power to make me say anything she wants me to
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talent. Lauren is so great. The next one I'm gonna have is old.
This is Saint Bernardduce the Christmas Ale David making Beer. It's Saint Bernarduce.
Since right after World War Two. This Christmas Ale is a dark beer.
They say it's full of wintery character and flavors. This one's not light.
It's nine point eight percent alcohol. I like all the stuff that they
have, so I'm gonna have this one right now. This is the Saint
Bernard Deuce Christmas Ale. I've never seen this in a can before. So
it has a nice sound. Oh, this is a really nice dark color.
Good foam here, good three fingers of foam. Oh, that smells
really good. I get a lot of like plum notes in this. It
smells excellent. Yeah, got a lot of like tartness, like plum stone
fruit tartness in this. It's really good. I don't now. They say
it's full of wintry character. I don't taste anything else that would make this
like Christmas Eve. But it's really good. It's a quadruple So, like
I said, it's not low in alcohol, but this one's delicious. Yeah,
that's excellent. I could definitely see this as a nice nightcap beer after
you're doing your winter holiday traditions. This would be good now. According to
their website, that has a shelf life of four years in a bottle.
A year and a half in a keg. So I'm assuming in a can
you gotta be good for a good four to five years in the can as
well, So you could definitely age one of these and see how this is.
This is really good. So if you see the Saint Bernard Deuce,
I would definitely put one of these in the cart. This is a nice,
wonderful holiday beer. All right, I'm gonna do a local one right
now. This is from Trip Titch Beer. They're out of Savoy Illini.
This is. It came upon a midnight meme. This is a black double
IPA with spruce tips and Simco hops. Big fan of black IPAs, love
Simco spruce tips. I've had some that are really good. I've had some
that just tastes like pine saal, so I'm hoping this is gonna be one
of the ones that are really good. I've heard good things about Trip Titch.
I don't think I've ever had one of their beers, so let's bust
open. It came upon a midnight meme. Oh, this is a really
good poor nice foam, good color to this. Yeah, us smell pine.
I get that pine notes and not in a bad way, not like
pine saw. I get some good pine notes out of the aroma. Now
it smells good. That's good. I get the pine, I get the
Simcoe hops, I get the nice dark malts in the black ipa. I
think this is really good. The pine is what hits me up front,
and it's good. It's not overpowering. I think it blends well with the
rest of the beer. So I think this is a winner. I'm trying
to see on the can what the ibu's is and it doesn't say so we're
just gonna guess. And it's a double IPA. Doesn't taste boozy at the
end. It tastes really good. I think this is a well made beer.
It's nice and balanced. You do get the pine there and it goes
well with the hops and the malt. I think this is good. Yeah,
that's a winner. You see this from trip Titch once again. They're
out of Savoy, Illinois, and you come across it came upon a midnight
meme. I think you should definitely put this one in the carts, all
right. The last one I'm gonna have is from Cruz Blanca. This is
their Christmas ale called Festiva six point zero percent alcohol. There's nothing on the
can that tells you why this is a Christmas ale or even on their website.
But I enjoy everything Cruz Blanca puts out, So let's crack open the
Festiva. Festiva is a nice dark amber color, very light ruby red,
dark almost vienna lagger light color. Smells really good. It smells like a
beer. I'm not getting any Christmasy notes side of the the aroma, but
I mean it smells good. Oh no, that's a Christmas beer that tastes
very good, kind of similar to like the Great Lakes Christmas where you get
those cinnamon notes you get. I think I'm getting a little ginger out of
this, but no, the taste on this is very good. I'm a
big fan so far. Yeah, that's good, nice local beer out of
Chicago. I mentioned earlier. Everything that I've had from Cruiz Blanca has been
very good. I'm a big fan of theirs. I don't talk enough about
them on the show, and I should. But this is really good.
So if you're in the Chicago land area and you're looking for a nice local
beer for the Christmas or holiday season, you definitely need to check out Cruz
Blanca's Festiva. Oh I thank you. For listening. That's going to wrap
things up for this episode of Beer in Front. Let me know what your
holiday beer in front is. Next week I'll be talking with some cider friends
and we'll give you some ciders to have during the holiday season. Have a
great week, and remember sometimes the beer in front of you is the best one yet