It seldom gets much below freezing near Washington, D.C. When it does, it doesn’t stay that way for long. Over the weekend, though, temperatures struggled to get into the high twenties. Not that the fans at either of the NFL Conference Championship games think I really have anything to complain about. (Go Giants! Woo-hoo!)

It did serve to remind me that it is still winter, though.

So I cracked open my single Black Dog Winter Cheer from Spanish Peaks, a “Hearty Winter Ale”. (This is one of the beers that Ron sent to me.)

Here’s what they say:

Black Dog’s Winter Cheer is a very hearty ale made from five different malts and three hop varieties. It has a deep copper color and its flavor balances the sweet malt with significant hop spiciness. The perfect beer to cheer up a Winter’s evening.

I’d say it’s more a deep brown than copper, but that might just be the fact that it’s night and the room I’m in. An off-white head that settles into half an inch of foam. A good bit of hop aroma. After warming a bit, I can smell some spice. Medium- to full-bodied but not overly sweet. In fact, it’s a bit hoppier than I expected, though not in a bad way.

I’d have this again.

6.3% ABV, 55 IBU

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• Thank you, Ron (4)

So, I’m home, hanging out with the kids, just chillin’, when the doorbell rings.

It’s the UPS man.

I wasn’t expecting a package, but who knows what last-minute thing my wife might have gotten.

It’s addressed to my family. From Ron’s family.

Well, isn’t that curious? While we send each other greeting cards, our families don’t exchange gifts. Not that we wouldn’t, of course, but by the time I buy gifts for my own kids, their cousins, their step-cousins, grandmas, grandpa, and child-free aunts and uncles, the gift budget is stretched thin. I know Ron is in the same boat.

So this, obviously, is a surprise. I honestly have no idea what it could be. So I call the girls up from downstairs. “Look, girls. We got a package.”

“What is it?” they ask.

“I don’t know. Let’s open it and find out.”

I slice open the tape. There’s a bunch of things in bubble-wrap. I grab the first one.

By golly, it’s a bottle of beer!

Six more bubble-wrapped bottles follow. Plus a note:

Enjoy this sampler of fine ales and lagers, hand selected, specifically with you in mind. Cheers! (I had the hardest time choosing just seven! Enjoy!)

“You shouldn’t have called us,” says my youngest, disappointed, as they head back downstairs.

Hawesome! A couple of them are even from my wishlist.

And they say Christmas is for the kids.

(Yes, that is my daughters’ purple Disney Princess tree in the background.)

• Brown’s Brewing Oatmeal Stout
• Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale
• Samichlaus
• Black Dog Winter Cheer
• Saranac Imperial Stout
• Ithaca Beer Double IPA
• Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale

Thank you, Ron. I will enjoy every last drop.

I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don’t believe I deserved my friends.
– Walt Whitman

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