Peaks and Pints’ Christmas tree arrived this morning, and we’re celebrating with a beer flight of trees we call Craft Beer Crosscut 11.29.17: A Flight of Christmas Trees.
A Christmas tree is synonymous with the holiday season as much as gift-giving overload; fun but mildly dysfunctional family get-togethers; and otherwise cringe-worthy but enjoyable “seasonal” music. The use of evergreens as a “symbol and celebration of life during Winter Solstice celebrations” started in ancient Roman and Egyptian times. It evolved over the centuries to be incorporated into Christmas celebrations in the Germanic areas of Europe, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. According to the NCTA, the first decorated Christmas tree was in Riga, Latvia in 1510. Early Christmas trees were decorated with paper, fruits and sweets. By 1531, the first retail Christmas tree lots appeared in German cities. In 1777, the tradition of the Christmas tree is brought to colonial America by Hessian troops fighting for Britain in the Revolution War. Trees made their way to New York City in 1851, when Mark Carr opened a retail Christmas tree lot in the city, the first in the United States.
Peaks and Pints’ Christmas tree is a beautiful high alpine noble fir grown by Turnbull Trees, which has been providing the freshest Christmas trees for more than 40 years. Gary Turnbull turned his Gig Harbor brush-picking job into a tree farm empire, partnering with Bob Jones at the famous lot next to the former Kmart on Tacoma’s Sixth Avenue. Turnbull’s daughter, Tina, has been supplying Tacoma’s Northend with Christmas trees for 26 years, first in the Proctor District and now consuming the beer garden at the Harmon Tap Room in Tacoma’s Stadium District. The Harmon Tree Lot opens at 3 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, running 3-9 p.m. every Friday and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through the holiday.
Anchor Christmas Ale
6.5% ABV, 28 IBU
Anchor Brewing Co. in San Francisco brews a slightly different Happy New Year/Christmas Ale (a.k.a. Our Special Ale) every winter. It’s dark brown in color, full-bodied, and 2017’s batch is a deep mahogany brown with a creamy, tan head and boasts aromas of fruitcake, molasses and Christmas spruce. The beer tastes of creamy bittersweet chocolate, coffee, roasted malts and toasted nuts. And it has a rich, smooth, and velvety mouthfeel. Anchor has released a holiday beer every year since 1975, making the brewery one of the great-granddaddies of the craft-brewing scene.
Fort George The Optimist
6.2% ABV, 50 IBU
That is an awesome craft beer! We mean that! After several sips of Fort George’s The Optimist we find my new enthusiasm streaming from us like a Pixar-produced rainbow! Suddenly we could stare at the Pacific Ocean for hours! Hello, spring onions, garlic, lemons, grapefruit and Christmas pine! Let’s put our heads together and solve some of our shared problems! Creamy mouthfeel! Smooth bitterness! Yes, we believe everybody’s just trying to do their best and no one’s out to take something from someone else! Thanks for asking! Spruce tips and pine needles on the finish! Thank you!
Aslan Simcoe Slice IPA
6.7% ABV, 65 IBU
Have a slice of Christmas pine today. Simcoe hops arrived on the scene in 2000 by Washington State’s Select Botanicals Group, used to impart both bitterness and aroma into beer. It’s identified by a piney, woodsy profile blended with a bit of citrus, which is front and center in Aslan Brewing’s Simcoe Slice IPA. This double dry-hopped IPA is full of dank, piney character. But, because this is a Christmas tree flight, ornaments are needed. Taiheke hops are added for fruity notes of strawberries, lychee and guava. It’s brewed with oats for added mouthfeel.
pFriem CDA
7.5% ABV, 70 IBU
Josh Pfriem and his crew routinely feature world-class options in every style, from a toasty Belgian Strong Dark and juicy IPA to this amazing Cascadian Dark Ale. With a malt bill of Rahr Pale, Simpsons Crystal Light, Simpsons Cara Malt, Simpsons Roasted Barley, Briess Midnight Wheat and Chinook, Mosaic, Citra and Equinox hops, pFriem Family Brewers‘ CDA is on the light side of the style with aromas of fresh cut Douglas Fir and bright citrus. On the tongue, the hops deliver Christmas pine resin and spice balanced with dark caramels, currants, licorice, black coffee and bittersweet chocolate. Neither the pine hops nor the roasted malts are too intense, which makes this black IPA work better than most.
Knee Deep Simtra Triple India Pale Ale
11.25% ABV, 131 IBU
Knee Deep Simtra whops the nose with dank pine, punchy green onion and hints of garlic. Toasted malts underscore explosive hop flavors: Onion splashes down first, then transitions into resinous pine, spruce tip, floral buds and grass countered by strong grapefruit, pineapple, blood orange, melon and lemon peel sweetness. Very bitter but the bitterness is countered by prominent fruit sweetness. It sports some boozy sweetness and a bit of heat in the finish but the high ABV is well masked. Alcohol presence takes away slightly from the hop flavors but it’s still deceptively drinkable at 11.5 percent.
