First of all, let me start off by saying that I have finally decided to purchase my Lyrics, Libations, and Life domain name. Therefore, if you actually need to look up this blog, you no longer need to type in the .wordpress addition. I’m hoping that this is the first personal step to try trying to take this blog to the next level.
The other week I did a little post on Paste’s favorite winter ales. Coincidentally, last night I managed to have their number one 
beer: Great Divide – Hibernation ale. I did think it was one of the best winter ales I’ve had so far this year. However, I did also notice that there is no way I could have had more than one. It does have that big flavor and warming effect you look for in a lot of winter ales. I’ll definitely be checking it out again for sure.
Paste has moved on and done another survey of the best Christmas ales available right now. We have about one month to find and get these beers off the shelves. Thanks to my favorite local store, Rick’s, I’ve been able to actually take quite a few of these. Here is their ranking of the top 11 beers out there for the Christmas Season.
11. Rogue – Santa’s Private Reserve
10. Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale Brown Shugga
9. Sierra Nevada Celebration
8. Sweetwater – Festive
7. Bell’s – Christmas Ale
6. Anchor – Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
5. Port – Santa’s Little Helper
4. Mikkeller – Santa’s Little Helper
3. Scaldis – Noel
2. Corsendonk – Christmas
1. St. Bernardus – Christmas
A few thoughts on their top 11 list. First, I find it interesting that the Sierra Nevada Celebration made it on this list. Although the name and label kind of suggest a holiday theme, I’ve always taken this beer to be more of their winter beer. I’ve managed to sample the Bell’s, Anchor, Sierra Nevada, Rogue, and Scaldis off this list. The way that they arranged these few on here I think are correct. I am quite interested in the Mikkeller option as well. Although I have had very few from them, I know they are typically a very high rated brewer. Once again, and this happened with their last list as well, I now really want to try this St. Bernardus brew. To me, it’s no surprise that they found this brewer to be the best at what they do. They typically brew some amazing brews. So, the next time I get to the store, it’s my hope to score a bottle or two of this highly ranked brew.
Check out the rest of Paste’s comments.
What beers do you think should be on this list? We’ve got one more month to compile our beers for Christmas dinner. What beers do you want at your holiday table?
Obviously this is a limited listing of just the 10 beers they were reviewing; however, it has me wondering what everyone chooses to drink over the winter months. Out of the ten listed here, I have had the Harpoon. Although when I first had it I thought it was amazing; I have since returned to it and not really enjoyed it as much. It’s too much like a christmas tree in a bottle for me. Right now I have both New Belgium and Heavy Seas one at home to try. So, I’m interested to break into these soon. However, I’ll now be on the look out for the rest of these. Obviously I really want to give the Great Divide release a try.
