For those who are new to the game, here are the rules:
1.) Find a friend, or two, or three, or four, or twenty-four (we use just 2)
2.) Decide what you're counting down to. (Our birthdays are Dec 26th and 27th, so we're counting down to our birthdays, but you can do it however you want to. I guess some people with non-seasonal birthdays may choose Christmas Day)
3.) Decide on how many? (24 seems logical, since its divisible by 6, and roughly 24 is close to 25, so you could roughly start Dec 1st...24/2=12 a piece)
4.) Decide who goes when? (Ed and I go even and odd days respectively)
5.) Hit up a make your own 6-pack place (you can purge a dozen 6-packs if you want too though)
6.) Set a price limit. (We set $30, which roughly gets us to $2 a bottle, and leaves $6 for a big bottle to mark the final day. $2 is sometimes idealistic for fun singles, so we allow you to cover the gap with homebrews or other beers you have sitting around)
7.) Buy some foil
8.) Decide on the order you want your partner(s) to drink the beers in.
9.) Write down the order on a piece of paper for yourself.
10.) Wrap up the beers. Make sure you do #8 and #9 before #10, or you will be playing a guessing game.
11.) Exchange, Enjoy the fun.
12.) Blog about it!
We'll be doing our best to live blog here so you can see all the fun we're having and give you some good commentary on our reviews and placement strategy.
Day 1 (E):
Intuition Aleworks-Jon Boat:
This beer was crisp and refreshing out of the can. Great start to advent. Kevin had spent Thanksgiving in Jacksonville, FL, the brewery mecca of the south, so his 12-er for Ed is going to be south heavy.
Day 2 (K):
Bear Republic-Red Rocket Ale:
I played the spoiler first this year, and had to go out to L.A. for a couple days without a checked bag. This meant he missed his day 1, but that means he also got to double up. This beer was good.
Day 3 (E):
Terrapin-Pumpkinfest:
Who says pumpkin beers are only for halloween and Thanksgiving? Pumpkin pie is a staple around the Christmas dinner table in my family so I welcomed this brew from Terrapin. This is a solid take on the style. Not too much spice and definitely not too much sweetness. If i had my druthers I'd add another pinch of spice and this would excellent.
Evolution-Secret Spot Winter Ae:
Ed and I really like Evolution, and I'm sort of mad at myself for not seeing this beer. It was really crisp and delivered on the holiday spices without overdoing it. The beer was lighter in color than I had expected. It had a nice bitter finish, which was a unique taste when dealing with a seasonal beer, which I enjoyed.
Day 5 (E):
Sixpoint-Sweet Action Cream Ale:
Sixpoint. How I love thee. Your nano kegs and your pounders are always delightful. I hadn't had this tall boy yet and was excited ever since I spotted it still wrapped in foil. Cream ales are not my favorite style but I am always wowed by Sixpoints offerings. Does a fine job of balancing bitter hops with sweet creaminess.
Lagunita-A Little Sumpin' Sumpin:
This is the first Beer Advent beer that I had tasted before. To Ed's credit, he wasn't with me and I couldn't pinpoint when I had it before. It turns out I had it in Sarasota Florida last year at Spring Training at Owen's Fish Camp (Great seafood restaurant with a nice bottled beer selection if you're ever in the area). It was a hot sumer day, I was a bit hungover and deyhdrated, so the beer was clearly a bit of a different experience this time around. This beer was hoppy, but not overly hoppy, and had a nice orange taste rather than the grapefruit we're used to.
Day 7 (E):
Blue Point-Toasted Lager:
The only one of the lot that I had enjoyed before, but never in a can. Blue Point toasted lager holds a special place in my hophead's heart as I would pinpoint this as my gateway beer into the world of craft beer back at Isaac Newton's in Newtown, PA, my preferred hometown watering hole. Even crisper from the can. Nice pick Kev, I really appreciated the nostalgia and I rarely order this beer since i've had it many times before.
Day 8 (K):
Sixpoint-Righteous Rye Ale:
Ed's been falling hard for Sixpoint. To be honest, the price point on 4 packs has kept me away. Total Wine has just started breaking them out into singles, so I've been expanding y horizon. I don't know why I'm afraid to drop the coin. They haven't disappointed; everything's great. I've been on a rye ale kick lately, and this beer really did it for me. I knew this was going to be my favorite advent beer before I finished it. It didn't taste like rye bread, like many breweries error in doing. The rye was subtle, without being underwhelming. The maltiness was sweet and comforting. The hop flavor came through with such a crispness that I found myself chugging this beer.
Day 9 (E):
Cigar City-Maduro Brown Ale:
Cigar City brews are tough to get a hold of up here in the DC metro area. This oatmeal brown ale just screams Kevin Weaver at me, as i know how much he enjoys the style. I really enjoyed this beer and its not a style I go after often which is what makes Beer Advent so great. I wanna say i tasted a little bit of tobacco in here but maybe that was in my head. At any rate, the only way this brew would be better is if we could run it from a nitro tap. Tons of volume already but nitro would put it over the top.
Day 10 (K):
Anderson Valley Brewing Company-Winter Solstice:
Ed and I bottled a white house honey porter tonight at the house. Ed was a day behind, so he brought his Cigar City and we enjoyed our cans. Ed and I had both had bought these to get a badge on Untappd, but I didn't give mine to Ed because I thought he was keeping his. Whoops. Nice that we got to share. I've had this beer before, but it was on draft, and it tasted more caramel like on tape. Out of the can, it seemed closer to a chocolate taste. It was still a pretty solid offering. Not as spicy as a lot of winter ales, but definitely warmed you up with a nearly 7% abv.
Day 11 (E):
New Belgium-1554 Black Ale:
The shape of the bottle always gives New Belgium away so I knew i wouldn't be disappointed. This black ale was a nice dark mocha type brew, almost like a porter in flavor. Didn't love it as it warmed up however, this brew should be kept cold and drank in the cold.
Day 12 (K):
Rogue-Mocha Porter:
Dark, chocolate-y, nutty, bit of a bitter finish, clings nicely to the glass. I had this beer after a long drive after a long day with family. It was a great bed time beer. It wasn't overly sweet thanks to the burnt tasting bitterness provided by the porter backing.
Day 13 (E):
Left Hand-Fade to Black:
Love. Love this beer. Left Hand Fade to Black Volume 4. This is sixpack worthy and if I wasn't already overloaded with brews and wine I'd snag it. Super dark yet with strong hoppiness throughout. Lot of activity but a lot of balance as well between the sweet, bitter, and the smoky texture.
Day 14 (K):
Mad River Brewing Company-Steelhead Extra Stout:
Not sure if it is the booze or the taste, but close to an imperial in taste, almost a barleywine in finish, wonderfully dark colored head. There may have been too much of an identity crisis going on with this beer for me to enjoy as much as I could have, but it was still a pretty great offering.
Day 15 (E):
Rogue-Juniper Pale Ale:
Gotta be honest. This was a little out there for me. Would rank this lower in the Beer Advent standings this year. I appreciate the unique use of junipers but it didn't work for me. I expected more of a berry flavor but maybe i don't really know what junipers taste like anyway....
Day 16 (K):
New Holland Brewing Company-The Poet:
Around here, beer's with a Raven on them are a bit of a gimmick. I would likely shy away from buying this beer for myself, rather I'd stumble upon it at a tailgate. With that said, I'm glad it found its way into my six pack. It is nice and rich, starts bitter and finishes a bit sweet and cocoa-y, if it were either a little sweeter or smoother it could push it to the next level.
Day 17 (E):
21st Amendment-Fireside Chat:
Another brew I've been eyeballing all season and last but never took the plunge. I think winter warmers get a bad wrap and this one isn't really lighting up the board at beeradvocate but i really enjoyed it. The spice, sweet, and alcohol seemed to be competing with each other but found balance as you continued to sip thru the brew. Far from a session brew but a great winter evening sipper that I applaud 21st Amendment for executing on.
Day 18 (K):
Duclaw-Euforia Toffee Brown Ale:
Inventive idea, little on the sweet side, but pairs unbelievably well with chocolate. It is a dessert beer, if you would. We had it with chocolates, which was delicious, but I think if I didn't have the bitterness of a nice chocolate, this beer would have been a loss. It just needs something, whether hops or a some burned grains, an edge cutting the sweetness would make this a pretty goo beer.
Day 19 (E):
Sweet Water Brewery Festive Ale:
Bring on the warmers! This was not as spicy as the Fireside Chat but rather more cocoa and maybe some maple syrup in there or molasses. I would take the Fireside first but this is also excellent and probably equally enjoyable because its unobtainable up this way. Another great pull Kev!
Day 20 (K):
Boulevard Brewing Company - Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale
I was probably most excited for this beer than any other after opening it. The design is classic, rustic, and vintage looking, just my style. I wasn't let down. There was some great spicy flavor here that enhanced the bubble gum flavor of the style. I was a bit surprised that this rang in at 8%. Pretty great job Eddo.
Day 21 (E):
Somewhat of a rookie winter warmer or a spiced up porter. I'm not sure this beer knows what it is really. Cool idea and the ginger was definitely at the right level but I was not wowed. I did get to enjoy this one with my dad over some baked ham so the experience brought the enjoyment level up a bit. Not too familiar with Bison and would be interested in trying some of their other stuff since they seem to be adventurous.
Day 22 (K):
21st Amendment-Fireside Chat:
I just use Ed's review, right? Second year in a row we've both given each other the same 21st Amendment. I guess we have a go-to grab at beer advent. I still haven't decided if I like this beer. The flavor was bold and well rounded, with great holiday flavor. As I got further into the beer, it tasted more and more like it had too much spice. My mouth tasted a little too much like cloves and Christmas at the end. I'd suggest maybe splitting it with a second person, and it might be the right about of flavor.
Day 23 (Ed's Birthday):
Heavy Seas Below Decks Barleywine:
Happy birthday to me! This beer has some serious guts. At 10% ABV it is not the strongest or weakest barleywine i've had but it actually kind of tasted like it should have been. I'm guessing that this beer could age well and might temper the alcohol flavor that i was getting. This brew did sip really well and the alcohol actually kind of gave a nice conclusion to each sip. It went along with the full bodied but not yet syrupy texture of the brew. I'd be really interested to try this aged in cabernet barrels which I hear was recently released. At any rate, I love barleywines and was really happy to conclude this year's beer advent with one, especially one that is local. Until next year! Cheers!
Day 24 (Kevin's Birthday):
Green Flash Brewing Barleywine Style Ale
Ed and I have beer kismet sometimes. Both of us closing on Barleywine for the final beer is one of those moments. Last year it was serving up the same beer on back to back nights. This one was good, but somewhat forgettable. I've actually been hearing more and more about Green Flash lately, but I just can't get behind a brewery that names a beer "Barleywine Style Ale". I know it is wrong, but I'm already thinking "uncreative" before it hits my lips. It was a lot hoppier than most Barleywine's I've experienced, a little outside of the genre norm, but that didn't help it into the top half of Barleywine's I've had.
And Ed's Barleywine was pretty awesome, but it pails in comparison to what Liz got me for my birthday. Check out her guest blog on her adventures in birthday shopping for a homebrewer.
