A weekly review of Vas Foremost’s craft beer offerings.
It’s Christmas time again – the season of joy and giving! In the mad dash to buy all of our friends and family something special, we often forget about the most important person on our lists: ourselves. This year, don’t forget about the person in the mirror. Treat yourself to some holiday suds this year.
The best type of spice – beer.
Lakefront Brewery – Holiday Spice Lager Beer
Style – Herb / Spiced Beer
ABV – 9.4%
Our friends from just up I-94, Lakefront Brewery, specialize in “lagers” and have been brewing beer for 25 years now! This holiday season they bring us their winter seasonal brew, Holiday Spice Lager Beer. If you ever get a chance, get up to Milwaukee and take a tour of Lakefront’s brewery. It is without a doubt, one of the best tours I have ever been on.
Holiday Spice is a deep brown beer with garnet red highlights. The aroma is absolutely wonderful. The spice additions lead the charge with an enticing nutmeg and cinnamon aroma. A spicy clove plays up to the nutmeg and cinnamon perfectly while a light orange and fruitiness sweetness give the beer depth. (A pinch of fruitcake for good measure.)
If you thought the aroma was good, wait ’til the taste. The first to hit your taste buds is a potent nutmeg taste paired off with some cinnamon, allspice, and fruitcake. A spicy clove taste adds a perfect tingle to the mouthfeel. In the background lingers a Terry’s Chocolate Orange and a little bit of honey sweetness. A gingerbread man joins the party and dances around cheerfully.
The Christmas holiday season, brewed and bottled for your liking. Pour Lakefront’s Holiday Spice Lager Beer into a glass and enjoy as the holiday cheer makes you feel better inside. Wait, that’s probably the alcohol.
Wish I was there
Widmer Brothers – Brrr
Style: Winter Warmer
ABV: 7.2%
A Portland Oregon institution, the Widmer Brothers Brewery has been cranking out beer for almost 30 years! One of its most popular seasonal offerings is Brrr. Released every winter, Brrr stands up to the cold and warms up your fingers and toes.
Brrr pours out a beautiful moderate brown color with copper and ruby highlights. Brilliantly clear, this is one gorgeous looking brew. The aroma begins with a nose of caramel and some holiday chestnuts. Next is a very light chocolate spread on a piece of toast. Doesn’t sound like a bad way to start off your morning, does it? True to the hop head in all of us, a citrus and pine tree note have us wondering if it is summer or winter.
The first sip of Brrr takes care of that argument (Spoiler alert! It’s snowing outside). Big and bold flavors of caramel candies, lightly burnt toast and Fig Newton bars. Imagine showing up to a party with those as the appetizers. Just make sure to bring me with. Brrr continues on and never strays away from its origin. (Oregon is one of the leading producers of hops in the U.S.). The citrus and pine flavors balance off the wonderful malt flavors bring a bit of depth to this beer. The finish is on the dry side, leaving my mouth watering and wanting more.
Brrr. It’s cold in here. Pop off the cap of Widmer Brother’s Winter seasonal and warm up them bones. If you are still cold after one, have another. It does come with five friends, after all.
Other Winter seasonal offerings available at Vas Foremost include: Breckenridge Christmas Ale, Anchor Brewing Christmas Ale, Great Lakes Christmas Ale, Bell’s Christmas Ale, Sierra Nevada Celebration, Cicso Brewer’s Winter Shredder, Bell’s Winter White Ale, Berghoff Winter Ale, New Belgium Accumulation White IPA, Brooklyn Winter Ale, Deschutes Jubelale, 3Floyds Alpha Klaus and Revolution Brewing’s Fistmas.
Next week in the Vas Review: More winter and holiday fun!
Steve Pasko is a Certified Cicerone® and the Beer Content Writer for Vas Foremost. Follow him on Twitter or Untappd at Gardemybiere. Email him at Gardemybiere@gmail.com or Steve@vasforemost.com