It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: Magic Hat Winter Mingle

The first It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer selection for 2015 is Magic Hat's Winter Mingle.  One of the things I like about Magic Hat is that they switch up the beers in their seasonal samplers every year.  Winter Mingle is a vanilla stout, and it's new this year in their Winterland Variety Pak, along with the Vinyl Amber Lager.  Stouts and porters are my favorite types of beers, so I like the Winter Mingle.  It's not as heavy as a lot of stouts, and the vanilla is there, but not overpowering.  Sometimes vanilla stouts can be too sweet, but this one isn't.  If anything, it's a little bit more bitter than I would prefer in a stout.

Name:  Winter Mingle
Brewery:  Magic Hat
Location:  South Burlington, Vermont
ABV: 5.8%
IBU:  30
Good for drinking if:  you're still full from Thanksgiving five days later, but you want to drink a stout that won't make you want to vomit.
Rating (out of 5 stars):  4