Santa has his naughty and nice list but other than consumerism concerns, kids don’t normally worry that the old boy is going to physically chastise them. (Well, there are those screamers who don’t know what to make of him when plopped on his lap in department stores.)
Painting by Ralph Dunkleberger in “Christmas in Pennsylvania: A Folk-Cultural Study” by Alfred L. Shoemaker.
But the old countries have plenty of questionable sidekicks of Saint Nicholas, a couple of whom we’ve met before in the 12 Beers of Christmas, with Four Quarters Krampus Nacht and La Befana last year.
Meet a third, Belsnickel, who like the others might give children some candy or other goodies, or who might beat them with a switch he carries with him. Like Krampus, Belsnickel was likely to show up around December 5 or 6, filling kids’ hearts with anticipation and fear. Mainly kids in southwest Germany, but the tradition was carried to the new world, particularly by German settlers and mainly in eastern Pennsylvania. Hence the episode of “The Office” when Dwight goes all in on Belsnickel:
Belsnickel was not unknown in parts of North Carolina, too, which is where I picked up a bottle of Guidon Brewing’s Belsnickel Christmas Beer last May right at the brewery in Hendersonville, North Carolina. But truth be told, owner Mike Baer is probably more familiar with the legend from his wife, Connie, a German he met while serving there as part of his 20-year military career that took him all over the world. And which also gave the brewery its name, as a guidon is a military regimental flag or pennant—and there are plenty of flags hanging in the brewery, military, German and otherwise.
Mike Baer
My nephew, Doug Honker, and I sat with Baer on an upper level at the spacious brewery as he told us a little of his history, and how German brewing traditions have had the most influence on him. “Connie’s German background is where my interests lay, a big reason why I gravitated toward the beers I do. Around here, we brew inside the box.”
No great fan of IPAs or sours (Baer said he about gagged the first time he had Vermont’s famed Heady Topper), he nonetheless has a couple of IPAs on tap, even a hazy one:
The Belsnickel is not a German brew, though, but a Belgian-style dark farmhouse ale. I bought the 2023 edition, and it immediately had to put up with another ten days of riding around in a hot trunk until Lynn and I returned north. That may be why the beer seemed a bit off when I finally made it through the wax cap coating. It had an appropriately fruity nose—Lynn said malty, citrusy. I found it lightly sour, thinner than expected and a bit sulfurous, but with a really pleasing lingering bite at the end.
As the first beer of the year, one wrapped in such an attractive big bottle, it wasn’t as exciting as I’d hoped. But after letting it air for awhile, the beer seemed much improved, with a denser malt character, a raisiny ting, a pleasing complexity, with the same pleasant finish. Belsnickel had let me off the hook.
Name: Belsnickel
Brewer: Guidon Brewing Co., Hendersonville, North Carolina
Style: Dark Belgian-style Farmhouse Ale
ABV: 7%
Availability: Winter seasonal, NC
For More information: guidonbrewing.com
[January 1, 2025]
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