12 Beers of Christmas 2023 Reprise

[Dec. 21, 2024]—It’s the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, so the good news is that it’s getting brighter from here on out. More good news was Deschutes Brewery’s Jubelale showing up on my doorstep a few days ago, and taking that as a starting gun, it’s time to get the 2024 12 Beers of Christmas up and running.

This will be the 13th annual edition, meaning by the end of this season’s endeavor I will have happily gone through 156 holiday beers over the years. (Counting new renditions of Anchor Brewing’s Christmas Ale each year, until its untimely end.)

For those stumbling into this for the first time, it’s a simple enough premise—thanks to Anchor’s almost single-handed revival back in 1975 of the tradition of brewing special brews for the holiday season, dozens of breweries—well, more clearly and accurately, hundreds—began to do the same.

So for the last dozen years I’ve guzzled 12 a year—Christmas ales, Hanukkah ales, winter warmers, call them what you will—and attempted to give some holiday-spirited reviews with ample context for the beer and brewery. The write-ups for each of the 144 beers so far are linked to below.

I try to accomplish this mighty task in 12 straight days, and I usually fail, mainly through exhaustion. I have absolutely no problem in indulging in the beers, roping in as many co-conspirator tasters as I can, but the write-ups are murder, especially after midnight on Christmas Eve when I still haven’t finished my wrapping. Just the same, I try to get it done before the actual twelfth day of Christmas, Epiphany, January 6.

Fritz Maytag back in Anchor’s good old days.

In 2023, there were a couple of firsts. It was the first time not leading off with an Anchor Our Special Ale, and the first time featuring two different beers from the same brewery, Allagash: if you’re going to feature two beers from the same brewery, Allagash is good bet, and so it proved. (Spoiler alert: Allagash will show up again this year.)

The 2022 Reprise tells the sad tale of Anchor’s demise in San Francisco. The theoretical good news this year came in late May when Chobani yogurt founder and CEO (and billionaire) Hamdi Ulukaya’s family business, Shepherd Futures, bought all the Anchor assets. Ulukaya said plans were afoot to reopen the brewery by the end of this year, but it clearly hasn’t happened yet, which is why the good news remains theoretical.

As I said last year, the regrettable absence of Anchor did promote both Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale and Deschutes Brewery Jubelale as the two longest-lasting Christmas beers in the U.S. (Celebration since 1981, Jubelale since 1986). So I take that as sound enough premise to rev up the engines with them each year. It’s always worth it to add Samuel Adams Winter Lager, too, and maybe a Samuel Smith Winter Welcome if I can track one down.

I gathered a few in the photo up top (that’s the Jubelale in the glass), along with the 2020 Anchor Our Special Ale, one of three renditions I’ve been hording in the cellar (i.e., garage). Only 2021 and 2022 to go. I polished off the Anchor tonight as well, and it was holding up, its flavors only somewhat diminished four years down the road.

Other than changing its recipe every year Anchor also put artwork of different trees on its labels. The recipes of the other beers remain the same year to year but Deschutes does find a new artist every year to design its packaging. This year it’s Evan Namkung from Bend, Oregon, an artist and muralist from Bend, Oregon, often including animals in his works.

Of the Jubeale design he said, “I chose colors and flow that represent calm, quiet, and peacefulness, which I associate with the holiday season. It’s a time where things slow down and I can take time to appreciate what’s around me and who I spend it with. The color choice of the elk has a clear point of warmth to represent energy, family and togetherness. Additionally, even though there is only one animal subject in the design, I wanted to choose an animal that is not solitary in nature (elk live in larger herds) to represent the spirit of the holidays and being with loved ones.”

Back in late October Namkung showed up at the brewery and spent the afternoon creating a mural of his Jubelale artwork, subject of neat Instagram post:

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A post shared by Evan Namkung (@evan.namkung)

As for the 2023 beers it was, for the second time, an all-USA list. (We’ll have a grand total of one or two imports coming up this year.) It was also a more potent list than 2022, with all but two of the beers over 6% ABV. The Abita Christmas Ale and Baxter’s Ice Storm were the “milds” of the group, at 5.5% and 5.8% respectively. At the north pole, Gatherwell from Allagash and Holidale from Berkshire Brewing were each a whopping 11%.

All were solid, well-made beers. I could have lived without the Baxter, simply because I’ve kind of had it with the hazy New England IPA style. So, too, with milk stouts like the Left Hand Candy Cane Nitro and Common Roots Snowy Night, which I tend to find too sweet. But to be frank, I drained them all.

That left nine beers I’d gladly revisit, in particular both Allagash entries, the People’s Pint From Nova Scotia and Victory Merry Monkey. I loved the Holidale, too, but that was a one-off, as Berkshire Brewing also changes its recipe from year to year. They may well make the list again.

Starting tomorrow, we’ll see what this year has in store.

Here are the links to the 144 beers under our belt so far:

The 12 Beers of Christmas

2023