It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Beer: The Next Four Beers

As tends to happen in December, I've got too much shit going on, so I get behind on my beer advent calendar.  I had to return some video tapes last Wednesday and Thursday, so I managed to muscle down three beers Friday night.  Then I had stuff going on Saturday night and last night, so I'm behind again.  But I'll try my damnedest to catch up over the next few nights.  Meanwhile, here are beers 3 to 6.

Beer #3 was from Rockford-area brewery Pig Minds.  It was called Piggy Pudding, and it was billed as a winter amber ale with figs, orange peel, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  These all sound like things that make for the perfect winter ale, but something was off.  It was a little sweet, but not in a good way -- almost like sometimes when you get a draft beer at a bar and you can tell the lines aren't clean because it has a weird taste to it.  Maybe I had a bad batch.  I'll definitely have to try it again.

Name:  Piggy Pudding

Brewery:  Pig Minds Brewing Company

Location:  Machesney Park, IL

ABV:  5.8%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You're sitting on your couch watching a college football championship game between two teams for which you have no rooting interest, other than the possibility that one of them winning may mean that Notre Dame doesn't make the College Football Playoff.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  3.75

I followed Piggy Pudding up with Ski House from Allagash, which is the first non-Illinois beer in the advent calendar.  Allagash is one of those breweries that can do no wrong in my book.  Obviously, Allagash White has carved itself out as the premier white ale made in America.  Ski House is a slightly stronger white ale (at a solid 7.5%, as opposed to 5.2% for their standard White), with some ginger and citrus to give it a wintery feel.  It was pretty enjoyable.

Name:  Ski House

Brewery:  Allagash Brewing Company

Location:  Portland, ME

ABV:  7.5%

IBU:  15

Good for drinking if:  You're sitting on your couch watching a college football championship game between two teams for which you have no rooting interest, especially since there was not the possibility of either team knocking Notre Dame out of the College Football Playoff.

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

Beer #5 was from one of my favorite local breweries, Dovetail.  They specialize in European-style beers, and their selection was their Winter Hopfenlager.  Their standard Hopfenlager is a more-hoppier-than-normal German-style lager.  For the winter version, they added some malt.  It still had three "C" hops -- Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook -- so I wasn't a huge fan, but I liked it better than the regular Hofpenlager.

Name:  Winter Hopfenlager

Brewery:  Dovetail Brewery

Location:  Chicago, IL

ABV:  5.1%

IBU:  N/A

Good for drinking if:  You're sitting on your couch watching a college football championship game between two teams for which you have no rooting interest, since whoever wins is all but guaranteed to make the College Football Playoff.

Rating (out of five stars, by quarter star increments):  3.75

Thankfully, Beer #6 was more along the lines of a traditional winter beer, but with a twist.  I happened to be at Midwest Coast yesterday, but I didn't have this one.  Winter Garden is described as a "chocolate rye porter."  Porter is probably my favorite style of beer.  This one was interesting.  The rye gives it a bitterness to offset the chocolate malt.  It's not sweet at all, and I'd probably describe it as "blunt," if that makes any sense -- certainly more on the side of a robust porter than a sweet porter.

Name:  Winter Garden

Brewery:  Midwest Coast Brewing Company

Location:  Chicago, IL

ABV:  7.8%

IBU:  50

Good for drinking if:  You're still celebrating the fact that your alma mater -- which, prior to the beginning of the season, was the losingest program in Division 1 football history -- beat a team they hadn't beaten in 37 years, beat the #1-ranked team for the first time in program history, clinched their first Big Ten title since LBJ was president, clinched their first outright Big Ten title since Truman was president, and are now ranked #1 for the first time ever.

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