It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: Pollyanna Dreamsicle Flurries and Old Irving Rat Pack

I unintentionally skipped yesterday, so I doubled up today.  Or should I say dubbled up?  That's a beer pun, motherfuckers!

Beer #7 in the beer advent calendar was Pollyanna's Dreamsicle Flurries.  It's not a traditional winter beer, but it's pretty damn good.  As the name and can art imply, it tastes like a dreamsicle.  It's a wheat ale with orange and vanilla, and while it has the word "flurries" in the title, I could enjoy this year round.

Name:  Dreamsicle Flurries

Brewery:  Pollyanna Brewing Company

Location:  Lemont, IL

ABV:  5.2%

IBU:  13

Good for drinking if:  You need a little taste of summer in the winter.

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

Beer #8 went back to a more traditional heavy winter feel.  It's Old Irving Brewing's Rat Pack, which is a Belgian-style dubbel, but with a twist.  Inspired by the Rat Pack's favorite cocktail, the old fashioned, this is brewed with orange peel, cherry, and bourbon-soaked oak staves.  It's an interesting beer.  I hate to use the term "complex" when describing any sort of alcohol because it makes me sound like a d-bag.  So I won't use that term.  It's good, though.

Name:  Rat Pack

Brewery:  Old Irving Brewing Company

Location:  Chicago, IL

ABV:  7%

IBU:  18

Good for drinking if:  You have a nice cigar to smoke while you're watching Ridiculousness.

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