It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: Ridgeway Santa's Butt and St. Bernardus Christmas Ale

Ridgeway Santa's Butt Winter Porter

Saturday night was my friend Chandler's annual holiday party, which has become a reason for everyone to bring bombers and share some beer and yuletide joy.  Here's a shot of the railing on the porch at the beginning of the night.  That didn't include probably another 8-10 bombers that arrived later.

One of the many bombers passed around was Ridgeway's Santa's Butt Winter Porter.  As a lover of porters, winter beers, Santa, and ass, I was predictably a fan of this beer.  Ridgeway has a good line of winter beers, including Bad Elf, Very Bad Elf, Seriously Bad Elf, and Lump of Coal, all of which I have enjoyed at one time or another.  If you see any of them in your local liquor store or tavern, grab at least one.

Name:  Santa's Butt Winter Porter
Brewery:  Ridgeway Brewery
Location:  South Stoke, United Kingdom
ABV: 6.0%
IBU:  N/A
Good for drinking if:  your goddamned babysitter informs you via text message at 11:46 p.m. that she expected you home around 11:30 p.m. so that she can go out for her friend's birthday, and you need a robust road soda for the walk home, while you ponder whether you will be explaining to the babysitter that she will never see your children again
Rating (out of 5 stars):  4.25 stars

St. Bernardus Christmas Ale

Yesterday was Daughter's birthday party.  We had a reptile guy and cake.  Chances are, I saw a turtle bigger than any turtle you saw yesterday.  Later that night, I watched a horrible Sunday Night Football game in neither Deandre Hopkins nor Danny Amendola scored a touchdown.  On the bright side, while watching said football game, I enjoyed a St. Bernardus Christmas Ale.  I'm a big fan of the Belgians and their beer (and their waffles and their frites, but that's a topic for another month-long daily blog series), and I've never had a St. Bernardus variety that I haven't enjoyed.  Their Christmas Ale is very good.  It's basically a strong dark Belgian ale with some winter spices.  If you like that sort of thing, you'll like this.  But at 10% ABV, like a twelve-foot ball python, it's both delicious and dangerous.

Name:  St. Bernardus Christmas Ale
Brewery:  Brouwerij St. Bernardus
Location:  Watou, Belgium
ABV: 10.0%
IBU:  N/A
Good for drinking if:  there are no longer 20 children under the age of 7 in your house

Rating (out of 5 stars):  4.5 stars