Our favorite Christmas beer
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Sam and Annalise rate Christmas beers in Joe's kitchen. Photo: Joe Guillen/Axios
Beer shelves are stocked with all types of Christmas and wintry beers right now.
- So we continued our blind taste-testing tradition to help you sift through the options.
What happened: The three of us split up into different corners of Joe's house and poured the beers into separate numbered cups to keep the breweries unknown. We scored each beer on a 1 to 5 scale based on deliciousness, holiday flavor and drinkability, then added up the scores for a final ranking.
- With three of us, 15 was the highest possible composite score.
1. Great Lakes Brewing Company Christmas Ale, 13.5/15 (7.5% ABV): "I'd drink it all," Annalise wrote, giving it a 5/5 for being "not too heavy" and deeper in flavor than other beers.
- GLBC has long been Joe's favorite Christmas beer and he correctly identified it after the first sip.
2. Frankenmuth Brewery Christmas Town spiced ale, 11/15 (6% ABV): Sam enjoyed this one for its sweet and creamy flavor.
- Annalise disagreed, saying it was "good, but not great" and could use more spice.
3. Bell's Brewery Christmas Scotch Ale, 9/15 (7.5% ABV): "More of a classic Xmas ale taste, with nutmeg-like spices and a dark-beer flavor," Joe wrote.
4. Arbor Brewing Company Holiday Bake Sale double milk stout, 6/15 (7% ABV): Sam and Annalise think this tastes like bacon. And not in a good way.
5. Short's Brewing Company Exterior Illumination American sour ale, 5/15 (5.3% ABV): "So tart my face puckered … more like a summer beer," Joe wrote, giving it a 3/5.
- Sam gave it a zero, and Annalise a 2.
6. Southern Tier Brewing Company Frosted Sugar Cookie imperial ale, 4.5/15 (8.6% ABV): Sam was pleased with his choice at the Ferndale liquor store near Joe's house, but the others didn't care for all the rich sugary flavor.
- Annalise dubbed it a generous 1/5, saying "Can you imagine drinking an entire beer of this? No thank you. Very cookie."
