It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: The Last Five Beers

Due to totally foreseen circumstances (social events, sloth, returning some videotapes, etc.), I got behind on my beer advent calendar and related postings, but fear not fair reader, I'm caught up now.  Here are the last five beers.

Beer #13 is one of my favorite winter beers:  St. Bernardus's Christmas Ale.  Belgians make fantastic beer.  St. Bernardus is a former Trappist brewery located in Watou, a small town in West Flanders on the French border.  I've enjoyed every one of their beers I've had, and their Christmas Ale is a top notch Belgian strong ale.

Name:  St. Bernardus Christmas Ale

Brewery:  Brouwerij St. Bernardus

Location:  Watou, Belgium

ABV:  9.8%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You're watching your fantasy football season come to a blinding end because the Bills defense can't keep Jamyr Gibbs out of the fucking endzone.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4.5

Beer #14 was one that I've had before in beer advent calendars:  War on Xmas If You Want It White Peanut Brittle Stout from Illuminated Brew Works.  It's a great white stout that very much tastes like peanut brittle, which combines two things I quite enjoy.

Name:  War on Xmas If You Want It White Peanut Brittle Stout

Brewery:  Illuminated Brew Works

Location:  Chicago, IL

ABV:  11.0%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You want to avoid sledding on a saucer sled primed with an untested nutrient varnish because of the metal plate in your head.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4.25

Beer #15 was from exurban brewery Obscurity, who puts out an Island of Misfit Beers series each year, based on the characters from the Rankin and Bass 1964 made-for-TV stop animation classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  This one was Hermey, based on the misfit elf/wannabe dentist, and it was a "cherry golden ale."

Name:  Hermey

Brewery:  Obscurity Brewing

Location:  Elburn, IL

ABV:  5.5%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You decide to torture yourself by watching a 2024 Chicago Bears football game.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4

Beer #16 was another one that has appeared in beer advent calendars of yore:  Hoppy Grinchmas from Riverlands Brewing.  It lived up to its hoppy name, much to my chagrin.

Name:  Hoppy Grinchmas

Brewery:  Riverlands Brewing Company

Location:  St. Charles, IL

ABV:  6.5%

IBU:  70

Good for drinking if:  You ever thought to yourself "man, I wish I had a reddish ale that tasted like a Christmas tree."

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  3.25

Beer #17 was back to the good stuff.  Snowbathe is a more traditional winter ale from suburban Pollyanna Brewing.  Brewed with mulling spices, it has a nice winter ale bite to it (but not in a nasty, hoppy way).

Name:  Snowbathe

Brewery:  Pollyanna Brewing Company

Location:  Lemont, IL

ABV:  6.2%

IBU:  30

Good for drinking if:  You could use something with cloves in it to take the edge off after a long winter's working day.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  4