It’s freakin’ freezing outside. You have bundled up kids in thermal wear, ski socks, turtlenecks, snow pants, parkas, waterproof gloves, hats, and scarves. You cut your hand while trying to climb over bikes in garage to get the deicer bags. You bleed profusely onto your white Bronco. Frighten children, who have fallen on a patch of ice, run back into the house with wet boots and undo the hours of bundling it just took to get them outside for five minutes. You realize that these are hours of your life that you will never get back. You call your spouse to tell he or she you’re picking them up to chill at Pacific Lutheran University’s “Sounds of Christmas” featuring the University Singers and Knights Chorus, directed by Dr. Raul Dominguez and Barry Johnson, at 7:30 p.m. inside the Lagerquist Concert Hall. Afterward, you two swing by Peaks & Pints for a nightcap for five. You want to lounge next to our fireplace. You want a drink that you can slow down with and sip contemplatively while you stare and the flames and consider your mortality. You want a winter warmer. Winter warmers are much darker in color, ranging from a deep amber to a rich black, with distinctively festival flavorings such as notes of dark fruit, roasted barley, chocolate, coffee, holiday spices and bitter hops. The emphasis is on strong flavors and a full mouthfeel, rather than being a thirst-quencher. Enjoy a flight of five, Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Sounds of Christmas. Bonus: the Grit & Grain Podcast will be at Peaks & Pints at 4:30 p.m. to discuss winter warmers. Cheers!
Peaks and Pints Beer Flight Dec. 4: Sounds of Christmas
Wet Coast Holiday Jeer!
6.5 % ABV, 30 IBU
Shopping: First, stop at Peaks & Pints for some Holiday Jeer! — Wet Coast Brewing’s winter ale, a full-bodied stout with big dose of molasses to provide notes of prunes and burnt sugar. They top it off with the addition of ginger, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. The alcohol will come to your aid when you must battle the lady fighting for the last available Rainbow High Series 3 Sheryl Meyer Fashion Doll. Against your liquid courage, that lady has no chance.
Grains of Wrath Hail Santa!
6.7% ABV
Santa Claus performs miracles and wonders every Christmas Eve. He can create and deliver virtually any present any child can imagine. He can fly through the sky and deliver these gifts to millions of children all over the world — all in one night. And not just any old presents but exactly the ones desired by each individual child. To accomplish this mission, he must have the ability to be present almost everywhere at once. Hail Santa! Grains of Wrath honors Santa with this spiced holiday ale made with cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and honey.
Cloudburst Distinctive Holiday Ale
6.7% ABV
“The day Sapporo decided to close Anchor Brewing was a sad, sad day,” states Cloudburst Brewing. “But a few weeks prior to that, they announced the discontinuation of their Special Ale (aka Christmas Ale), and that was a mad, MAD day. We get that a spiced winter warmer is not an easy sell (LIKE, PLEASE BUY THIS BEER) but that version was essentially canonized. It was always rich in malt and interesting in flavor – often spiced, but never with the same combination – and packaged in an iconic bottle (or magnum) with a new label every year. If that beer was to no longer exist…well, what does that say about…um…the storied winter seasonal beer market? And thus, we put it upon ourselves to create a similar rendition, filling that glaring, singular hole on the shelf at your favorite bottle shop. A beer of malts, hops, spices, joy and cheer. A beer you can drink one can of, leave a second can in the back of your fridge, bring the other 2 cans over to your friend’s house so they can drink one can and regift the other one. So, watch out, seasonal shelf turds – there’s a new Special Ale in town and it’s our Distinctive Holiday Ale.”
Ravenna Snowmotion
8% ABV
Pouring deep mahogany with an off-white head, Ravenna Brewing’s SnowMotion embodies the Seattle brewery’s love of sturdy and sippable winter-warmers. The malt profile offers notes of chocolate, dried fruit, and rye spice. An earthy hop presence provides contrast to the full body.
Huyghe Delirium Noël
10% ABV
Brewed only for the Christmas and New Year, the pink elephant adorns Noël’s label: skiing, sledding, pulling Santa’s sleigh; the Pink Elephant does it all. Delirium Noel is a big, spicy beer with a lot of dried fruit character and touch of alcohol to let you know that you’re drinking a beer with a double-digit ABV. Its appearance is a superb warm copper to red color, recalling Delirium’s Nocturnum except in its taste. It hides its subtlety by multiple levels of flavor and should be approached with confidence, with a tinge typical Christmas, sauced with a sweet touch, then bitterness.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
