Otherwise hop-forward American beer palates drift as daylight dwindles and night’s yawn lingers. They trend a bit darker and heavier, like the sighing of the land between harvest and planting, as we fortify our souls for winter’s rigors.
Beers designed for our current season have enjoyed many forms through the centuries, and spirited niche winter craft beers are still readily at hand for those who seek them out.
European immigrants on American soil first brewed special, dark beers for the end of year holidays to honor the traditions of their homelands. Those traditions stemmed from two principal lines: monks in the Middle Ages who brewed their finest, strongest beer to celebrate the birth of Christ, and the older practice of Norwegian converts to Christianity who kept alive the Viking art of making smoky Jul (Yule) ale.
“Christmas Beers” — winter warmers and spice beers — remain standards in Northern Europe today, often taking the form of “bokbieren” — eisbock, doppelbocks and other bock classes. Along with gluhkrieken (a Belgian holiday blonde lager), these specialty beers remain popular partially due to the established tradition of releasing winter seasonals to sustain the “joy” of Christmas through Twelfth Night and the Epiphany.
On our side of the Atlantic, holiday beers encountered a hard stop with Prohibition. Along with quelling two centuries of such traditions, the influence of that era even reaches a long arm into the current century, as various legal and political mores prohibit breweries from using Christmas imagery to advertise brands. Don Russell of Craftbeer.com recently noted that as late as 2010 the state of Maine banned a brand bearing Santa Claus on the label, dismissing it as “undignified and improper.”
Nevertheless, as Russell also observed, Christmas beer is less a label or a style: “It’s a tradition. It needn’t be spicy or strong, sweet or dark; it need only be special, a gift to be shared in the spirit of the holiday.” Holiday sours exemplify and reveal a fresh facet of that coveted holiday spirit.
Holiday sours cross styles and markets, risking the short sales horizon for holiday beer (October-December) and the fact that sours move slower than mainstream craft beer. “Releasing a holiday sour beer is a bit risky,” said Patrick Rue, CEO of The Bruery and master cicerone. “The general flavors of holiday and winter beers are also a tricky combo with sour beer. It’s tough to have a malty flavor in sour beer; acidity and spices often clash.”
Several special sour beers suited for the holiday season are nevertheless brewed nearby.
Atop the local list is Upslope’s very red-canned Wild Christmas ale with black raspberries. The ale enjoyed a 10-month stint in Leopold Bros. Maryland-Style Rye Whiskey barrels, followed by inoculation with a house mixed bacteria culture and a two-month refermentation on black raspberries. It captures the fruity — blackberry jam and blueberry — oaky, merlot flavor profile of a quintessential beery holiday treat.
Along with Avery Brewing’s seasonal English strong ale, Old Jubilation, sour beer fans are well-advised to also seek out any remaining bottles of Nox Reposado at the taproom. Whispers of smoke and sweet tarts kiss this dark Tequila Sour, aged in Suerte reposado and anejo Tequila barrels. This unconventional approach delivers a beer with a deep hickory hue, a piquant nose, and an alluringly warm mouthfeel that offers a less stuffy alternative to the fireside port digestif.
Peter Bouckaert’s latest endeavor in Fort Collins, the barrel-focused Purpose Brewing, also offers an enticing take on holiday-time sours. Bouckaert eschews seasonal brewing, but his four weekly barrel releases artistically match the flavors of the season, including the recent tapping of Piece of Pie. The tart, spiced-herb ale was fermented on black cherries, blueberries and raspberries then spiced with brown sugar and cinnamon. Per Bouckaert’s design, the beer’s tart-sourness arose from the raspberries rather than the barrel, invoking the flavors of Christmas plum pudding with a soft sourness that feels eminently Dickensian.
Holiday beers may hold less cultural significance today than they once did. And sours too may play more to a narrow band of the market. But holiday spoils and grand adventures are never had by those who do not pursue them. Follow your own trail this season, and share what you find with those you love in the holiday spirit, even if it’s a little sour.
Cyril Vidergar is a homebrewer and beer law attorney based in Fort Collins. He can be reached at beerscoop@gmail.com.
