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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Inspired by Ron’s list, here’s a few beers I’m wishing for.

#5
Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale
by Stone
I was going to make sure that all of the beers on my list were different than Ron’s, but I hadn’t heard of this one before I saw it on his list. Now I want it. I’ve been accused of being arrogant. Am I arrogant enough?

#4
Real cask ale
by anybody

Real ale is a natural product brewed using traditional ingredients and left to mature in the cask from which it is served in the pub through a process called secondary fermentation. It is this process which makes real ale unique amongst beers and develops the wonderful tastes and aromas which processed beers can never provide.

Cask-conditioned ale on a hand-pull is about as rare around here as hen’s teeth. No, I really want to go to the U.K. and have some of the good stuff. At least, before it disappears from there, too. Thank goodness for CAMRA.

#3
Westvleteren
by The Monks of the Abbey of Saint Sixtus

“No question, it is the holy grail of beers,” says Remi Johnson, manager of the Publick House, a Boston bar that has Westvleteren on its menu but rarely in stock.

Three styles, brewed by the monks of the Abbey of Saint Sixtus in the Belgian municipality of Westvleteren. They brew simply to help pay for their way of life, and have resisted efforts to increase production or license the beer to a larger brewer. They do not advertise, label the beer, or sell it anywhere except from their front gate. It is so rare and prices are so high in grey market reselling, they ask that people buying their beer–and they can only get two cases a month–to promise not to resell it. Trappist Command: Thou Shalt Not Buy Too Much of Our Beer (Wall Street Journal)

#2
Samichlaus
by Schloss Eggenberg

“Samichlaus” beer is brewed once a year, in each case on December 6th, and stored and matured afterwards for over 10 months before it is bottled. “Samichlaus” beer can mature for many years in the bottle; older vintages obtain a complexity and receive their creamy warm aftertaste.

December 6 is Saint Nicholas’ Eve. Samichlaus means “Santa Claus” in the Swiss-German dialect of Zurich, where it was first made and is one of the world’s strongest beers at 14% ABV. It was originally brewed by Hürlimann Brewery, but production was stopped in 1986 after the brewery was purchased by a subsidiary of Carlsberg. In 2006, the Schloss Eggenberg brewery in Austria brought it back to much rejoicing.

#1
Utopias
by Samuel Adams

With an alcohol content of 27% by volume, its complexity and sweet, malty flavor is reminiscent of a deep, rich vintage Port, fine Cognac or aged sherry while being surprisingly light on the palate.

$100 for a 24 ounce bottle. Illegal in 12 states. Bottled in a miniature copper brew kettle. What’s not to love?

These are all so rare, so expensive, or so far away that I may never get a chance to experience them. That’s why they call it a wishlist, after all.

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‘Tis the season of giving, so if anyone happens to be in the spirit of things, here’s what I want…

Just kidding, of course, but as I have been browsing the brews at my local candy store recently, I have come across a variety of beers that I have never tried before. These beers have caught my attention but I have held off because I have been spending enough money on beers as gifts and feel that buying these typically higher priced beers for my self would be quite self-indulgent and not in the spirit of the holidays. Sure, I will eventually get around to them, but in the meantime, here are the top 5 beers on my Christmas List.

#5
Un*earthly Imperial India Pale Ale
by Southern Tier

Smell the enchanting aromas of the hops waft forward as your first sip divulges this beer’s fervent soul.

I love hoppy beers and this IPA comes in at 153 IBU’s sounds like a screaming good time. 11% ABV

#4
Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale
by Stone

…we crammed, forced, shoved and cajoled the OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale into itty bitty tiny little 12oz bottles. It did not go willingly. Some Stone peeps got hurt.

Read all of what Stone has to say about this brew on the back of the bottle.
I’ve had the Arrogant Bastard Ale before, in bottle and on draft. It is an excellent beer, even though Stone may not think me worthy. I’d love to know how the extra expensive Oaked version compares. 7.2% ABV

#3
Jah*va Imperial Coffee Stout
by Southern Tier

…a heady mixture of sweet sugar, dark roast, and complex flavor.

I love stouts of all kinds; this one sounds like one to sip by the fireside. 12% ABV

#2
Santa’s Private Reserve
by Rogue

Rogue’s annual holiday offering, Santa’s Private Reserve, is a variation of the classic Saint Rogue Red, but with double the hops–including Chinook, and Centennial, and a mystery hop called Rudolph by head brewer John “more hops” Maier!

Rogue has never let me down so this hoppy beer has to be a winner. I wonder what the Rudolph hop is…? 6% ABV

#1
by Weyerbacher
Double Simcoe IPA

Double Simcoe IPA is our incredible reward for Hopheads seeking over the top flavor in a Double IPA, without the harshness. Brewed exclusively with Simcoe hops…

The simcoe hop seems to popping up as the new, “in”, hop. I’m not sure if I’ve ever experienced it and I sure want to try. 9% ABV

---

In case you are just wrapped up in that giving spirit, here is one more beer I ran across on the Rogue website but I have never seen before. Leave it to an Iron Chef to make a pilsner, imperial… very interesting. I don’t know where you can buy one of this, perhaps you will have to visit kitchen stadium.
Morimoto Imperial Pilsner
by Rogue

Imperial Pilsner is golden in color with a dry hop floral aroma and intense hop bitterness supported by a big malty backbone.

If there is a theme here, it would be “beers to be savored”.

(p.s. I’ve been good!)

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