Christmas should be about togetherness and sharing time with your loved ones, unless the Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie debate arises. If you’re feeling up for some chaos, then by all means! Carry away. Either way, Eurotrash Hans Gruber is coming for you at 10 p.m. The Grand Cinema screens Die Hard, the prototype for just about every contemporary action movie, though its craft has never been repeated, nor has anyone imitated anything other than its high-concept premise. That said, try your best to ignore (or maybe forgive) the dire one-liners of Clarence Gilyard Jr. and the fact that fiery henchman Alexander Godunov dies about three times. But don’t avoid the opportunity to prefunc at Peaks & Pints with a holiday beer flight we call Peaks and Pints Christmas Beer Flight Dec. 21: Die Hard Prefunc.
Peaks and Pints Christmas Beer Flight Dec. 21: Die Hard Prefunc
Baerlic Yippie-Ki-PA
7.2% ABV
Baerlic Brewing brews down-to-earth beers made by down-to-earth guys. In 2014, then-homebrewers — Ben Parsons, a graphic designer, and Richard Hall, who earned his paycheck as a bike mechanic — took their work-a-day approach to life and transplanted it into Baerlic, which means “of barley” in old English. Tucked onto Southeast 11th Avenue in Portland’s Central Eastside — during one of the densest thickets of breweries in the city — the “stubbornly independent brewery and taproom” Baerlic Die Hard IPA, Yippie-Ki-PA, is brewed with enough resinous and dank pine to take down a terrorist with just enough malty sweet left over for the love of his life …Yippee Ki Yay Mother Gruber!
Hellbent All Spruced Up
7.5% ABV
Hellbent Brewing‘s All Spruced Up Winter Ale is a traditional winter beer, dark in color, yet has a mild malty richness. The hops — Citra, Chinook, and Cascade — along with fresh spruce tips add a citrus floral and “candy-like” aroma. Expect smooth caramel and spice up front, with spruce on the finish.
Wet Coast Fixed the Newel Post
8.5% ABV
In National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Clark takes the chain saw to the newel post, but Rusty is caught watching It’s a Wonderful Life on TV and Frank Capra III — grandson of the famous director of the classic film — was an assistant director on Christmas Vacation. Wet Coast Brewing pays tribute to this classic holiday scene with an imperial red ale full of Caramel and Crystal Rye malts for sticky-red-sweetness plus enough hops for resinous pine and juicy citrus flavors and aromas.
Delirium Noel
10% ABV, 20 IBU
In the town of Ghent sits Brouwerij Huyghe, the oldest, active brewery in that corner of Belgium. The brewery is best known for Delirium Tremens, a highly regarded Belgian strong pale ale, but they produce a wide variety of beers ranging from pilsners, witbiers, fruit ales and lagers. Huyghe’s Delirium line of beers is famous for the pink elephant that adorns every label on every ceramic painted bottle. Its Noel labels are no exception. 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.
Prairie Christmas Bomb!
13% ABV
Prairie Artisan Ales’ Bomb! is an imperial stout aged on Nordaggio’s espresso beans, chocolate, vanilla beans, and ancho chile peppers. It hits the nose with cocoa, vanilla, coffee, chili peppers, and roast. Taste is sweet, chocolate, vanilla, warming chili, coffee initially subtle but comes through much more as it warms, roast malts, and at 13 percent the alcohol is well integrated. It’s dangerously easy to drink. Their Christmas Bomb! Is their famous Prairie Bomb with added Christmas spices.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
