On the Christmas table, now we toast with wine and sparkling wine but also with craft beer. The world of breweries, Italian and foreign, in this period in fact produces the so-called “Christmas Beer”, or beers made for Christmas.
We are not talking about a real style but about beers that are unique, because they change from year to year. In fact, the master brewers, for this occasion, revisit their recipes and thus interpret their idea of Christmas, making their products ideal to accompany the typical sweets of the holidays or simply to cheer and warm up after dinner with friends.
Christmas beers are also becoming a gift to leave under the tree. More and more often, in fact, the producers study intriguing gift packages or bottle their precious second-hand beers in “magnum” formats of one and a half litres.
As we were saying, we cannot speak of "style" because Christmas beers are all different from each other, although they usually have common characteristics, especially on the ingredients used to flavor them: cinnamon, spices, dried fruit, citrus fruits, red fruits and honey, often are the masters in the construction of these particular beers, fragrant and full-bodied. Another common element is the high alcohol content, ranging from 7 to 10 degrees.
But where does the Christmas Beer tradition come from? The center of everything is the Belgium of a few centuries ago, even if every country has a brewing tradition in this sense. In Europe, in fact, each nation interprets its Christmas beers in a different way. Originally they were produced for family use and consumption, then they became part of the production of craft breweries which, for the occasion, show off all their knowledge and their finest ingredients, starting with malts and hops, with often extraordinary results .
How to orient yourself, therefore, in the vast offer of Christmas beers this year? Domus Birrae, leading distributor in Italy in the field of craft beer, has its own catalog. They range from those of Belgian inspiration to smoked beers, up to beers with hints of dried fruit or candied fruit. Here, according to them, are the must-haves for this upcoming Christmas.
Il Larian Brewery offers cell, an alcoholic and slightly smoky beer, with hints of red fruit and citrus. To always remain on the genre also the Rural Brewery has among its beers the smokey, a modern interpretation of German Rauch Beer, very drinkable and balanced.
Lovers of the fruity notes typical of this period of the year cannot fail to try the 25 Dodici di Birra del Borgo, a warm and enveloping beer characterized by notes of dried fruit, sultanas and walnuts, with hints of caramel, chestnut honey, cherry and currant. There wheat bock di Rittmayer, instead, it has a powerful aroma of ripe fruit and hints of cloves, with smoky and raisin essences. And how about a beer created with the addition of passion fruit? Let's talk about Passion February di Brewsky, one particular India Pale Ale with fruity notes.
Sweetness is also at home for the Brewery of the Ducato which, for his Winterlude, uses Belgian Poperinge hops. A top-fermented beer refermented in the bottle with aromas of fruit in syrup, candied sugar, bread crust and chives. The reference to Belgium is also followed by Extraomnes with her Kerst, a Belgian-style high-proof beer brewed with the addition of honey. The Cagliari brewery, with her Santu Miali, It offers a Belgian Strong Ale with hops Simcoe and Northern Brewers.
And for the most “greedy” there Black Christmas by Toccalmatto contains all the tasty aromas of the season (sweet orange, vanilla, cinnamon, cocoa, chocolate, coffee and licorice), while the Toats, made in collaboration with Stillwater, it is probably the first 100% oat beer in the world, with aromas of vanilla, creme caramel and a fruity and exotic hopping. Always of mad touch is the Sturm Und Drang, a beer in which noble German hops are enhanced, which express their herbaceous aromas thanks to generous dry hopping.
Returning to the dessert, the Danish Amager, with her Secret Santaoffers a full-bodied beer with hints of toffee, caramel, red fruits and spices. There Krampus of Duchy, instead, it has balsamic notes and references to candied fruit and spices. In three words: sweet, warm and full.
Those who cannot do without the strong taste of coffee cannot miss the King Kegwa di Ghost Brewing, an Imperial Coffee Stout made with coffee beans from the Kirinyagaô Ngiriambu region. Ale Browar, instead, it proposes the Sweet Cow, an S-style black beersweet Stout soft and velvety, with notes of coffee and cocoa. On the same aromas is also La Santa Muerte by Amager, which is enriched with hints of caramel, full-bodied, enveloping, very black and with a cappuccino-colored foam.
And those who want to celebrate these holidays with a "sumptuous" beer will appreciate the "barrel aged" of Pontino Brewery, the aged version of the Hopped Ink. Eight months of storage in oak barrels that previously housed Sagrantino and two months of maturation in the casks to have a beer that inebriates with its aromas of red fruits, vanilla, toasted and slightly vinous notes.
It does not abandon the notes of the wine either Crack with her Double IPA from 9% alc. Its gooseberry aroma, conferred by hops Nelson Sauvin, is balanced with the resinous and apricot notes of the Tree. Fruity at first, but with a sharp bitterness and a dry finish that leaves its mark!
