Our Annual Christmas Beer Tasting 2016

I have enjoyed drinking Samichlaus® Classic beer for years. Castle Brewery  Eggenberg of Austria brews this very unique beer, once a year on December 6th, then ages it for 10 months. Why December 6^th? It is St. Nicholas’ Day, the day to celebrate Santa Claus or the German version, Samichlaus, the bringer of gifts. And what better way to celebrate than to sample one of the world’s strongest and unique beers? It has an ABV of 14%.

Last year, we started our own  tradition, by sampling a store bought Samichlaus® and brewing our own version. A bunch of us got together, ate sausage, tasted each other’s favorite Christmas beers and brewed 2 cases of a Samichlaus® clone. We used the recipe from my dog-eared copy of Szamatulski’s Clone Brews – Recipes for 200 Commercial Beers. We named our version, Krampus Ale and actually made labels.

Afterward, I injected some CO2 into a Krampus Ale using my Soda Stream. This version of Krampus is a dangerous beer, with a creaminess that goes down much too easily. At 14%, you need to be careful!

This year we brewed a smaller batch of Krampus, cutting it back to 1 gallon. Two cases of beer in refrigerators for 10 months is just unreasonable. A couple of 6-packs is a much more manageable. I can hardly wait for next year. It will be interesting to taste the 2016 and 2017 versions side by side.

Other Christmas Beers

Other Christmas beers sampled were:

• Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale;
• Troegs Mad Elf;
• Breckenridge Christmas Ale and
• Great Divide Hibernation Ale.

All the Christmas beers were a hit. Celebration is deliciously hopped ale, but not your traditional Christmas beer. Troegs is one of my favorites, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale, tasting of cherries, honey and booze. The 2016 version seems a bit sweeter to me. The Breckenridge Christmas Ale is a solid winter ale with the rich tastes of chocolate and caramel. All seemed to enjoy the Hibernation, an old ale with hints of chocolate, caramel, coffee and fruit. I found it a bit too smoky for my taste, though.

Whenever the gang gathers, a few homebrews are quaffed. This time, we had a brown ale, a wit and a Belgian dubbel. All were good, with the Belgian dubbel a standout. It is a beautiful beer with a nice Belgian zest.

Cheers and Happy St. Nicholas’ Day!

Warren