All good things have to come to and end, and to be honest, I’m thankful it is so. I’m not sure I could survive another day of freewheeling holiday fun without exploding. I feel like I’m a “wafer thin mint” away from going out like dear Mr. Creosote from Monty Python’s Meaning of Life!
You see, I took the week between Christmas and New Year’s to spend relaxing with my family, and that’s exactly what we did. Nothing. We mostly hung out at home and played with the junk the kids got with Christmas, ate holiday treats, and in my case, polished off the last of my stockpile of Troeg’s Mad Elf.
To be honest, I’m all holiday’d out and I’m actually looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow. I guess that’s how you know a vacation did the trick, when you’re ready to get back to the grind.
Anyway, I had a terrific break and I’m looking forward to spending an awesome 2012 with you boys and girls.
Did you do (or drink) anything special for the holidays? As always, let us know below and Happy New Year!
Beer & Whiskey Brothers 
I’ll write a blog post whenever I get done unpacking…but I spent 10 days in Mass, VT, and NH and was able to go to/tour/talk to the brewers at Wachusett Brewery, Gardner Ale House, Harpoon Brewery, The Alchemist Brewery, Hill Farmstead, Rock Art Brewery, and Woodstock Brewery. Hands down, the beers at Hill Farmstead took the cake and I made a great beer connection there. Alchemist’s Heady Topper was one of the best IPAs I’ve ever had and got me back on an IPA kick. A bunch of New England beers and a 2009 Speedway Stout were thrown into the mix as well with a big haul of Lawsons Finest Liquids. Then Southwest tried to prevent me from bringing it all back, but like any gentlemen, I sweet-talked (see also “gave the “what the f*&^ do you mean” look and managed to make everything work out.)
I’ve heard of the Heady Topper – folks here have been talking it up – but still haven’t seen it in the wild. When I do, I’ll definitely pounce!
Glad to see your subtle charms work on the airlines. I guess Southwest has to be a little lenient, as their entire ad campaign is basically “we’re not dicks.”
Anyway, glad you had a good trip and you (and your beer) made it back in one piece.
Odd…I’ve never had an issue transporting beer in checked baggage. I just flew back to New Hampshire from Chicago on Southwest this morning with four bottles…not a peep.
well half my bottles were in my luggage, but I had another box to check full of booze…they didnt like that. They didnt know my suitcases were full of beer.
As usual, my son-in-law gifted me w/ a case of mixed beers. But instead of it being a collection of international beers, it was made up primarily of US craft brews! I’ve already tried a blue berry flavored Ale (yecch!), an Hawaiian Lager (not bad at all); and a Vanilla Porter from CO (surprise, surprise, I actually liked it–it was intensely vanilla flavored but not sweet.) Add this group of beers to the collection of stouts I already had on hand & I’m good for the next month & a half.
I’m guessing Brekenridge for the vanilla porter – it matches your vanilla-y but not too sweet description.
Yep, Jim wins the cupie doll!
BTW: the Hawaiian brew was Maui Brewery’s Bikini Blonde Lager, brewed “in the Münchner-Style Helles” style.
That seems like a strange thing to get from Hawaii for sure!
Yeah I thought so too. But even though I prefer top-brewed beers, I found it quite nice. It would be excellent at the beach during the summer–it comes in a can!
I spent the holidays drinking Duvel. Aside from being excellent, I want to know what makes it tick. The only way I know to figure that out is research, research, research. There was whisky (not misspelled) to break things up. Some Bailey’s for the coffee in the morning and the obligatory Abyss for lunch, but for the most part it was me and the Duvel. work work work…
On a side note, I’ve made a New Year’s resolution:
I have resolved to advance the idea and practice of breakfast beers. Toward that end, If you are feeling a bit over stuffed from the holidays, I highly recommend an IPA with a bowl of fruit for a light way to start the day.
Cheers folks!
I’ll switch from coffee immediately – you’ve already made a convert.
Well, my company was closed Friday before Christmas so Thursday night I treated myself to North Coast’s Old Rasputin XIV. Almost too much beer for me to handle!
For Christmas Eve at my parents I brought out a couple of Christmas beers (Fegley’s Rude Elf, Troeg’s Mad Elf, and a couple of German cloister ales), and my Dad picked up the Sam Adams Winter Sampler. We then spent the evening sampling all of them. Good times!
For New Years Eve, I had the Sam Adams Thirteenth Hour and The Breury’s 4 Calling Birds.
So it was a good holiday week for me!
Sounds like a nice mix of beers. I mostly stuck to Mad Elf and a selection of barrel aged goodies. It was a good week for me as well, but I now realize that I lack the stamina to be a rock star (unless they get plenty of naps).
Naps == passing out in the back of the tour bus for the 12 hour drive to the next venue…
Hmm..I might be able to manage that!
Every year after Christmas break I swear off any fatty foods. It usually lasts about an hour. I don’t think I was ready to go back to work at all though. I would rather eat bags and bags of chocolate pretzels drinking beer and laying in my pajamas. Boo to work!! I wish money grew on trees. Great blog. Glad I ran into it.
I think I’m going to make it AT LEAST two hours before I cave and go back to being naughty…
My new year’s sin was candied ginger dipped in dark chocolate.
That sounds pretty interesting. I love eating straight ginger when I get Japanese food, and having it dipped in dark chocolate (with that nice cocoa bitterness) sounds pretty delicious.
You betcher boopie it is! I eat pickled or candied ginger as a digestive all the time but the chocolate covered stuff is a special treat.
After Christmas, my friends and I went down to South Fork, CO to ski at Wolf Creek and hang out in a cabin for four days. We all brought goodies from our beer cellars, including: Mikkeller Black, Mikkeller Santa’s Little Helper, Port Santa’s Little Helper, Bourbon Barrel Yeti, Dry Dock Double IPA, Funkwerks Helter Spelter, Deschutes Dissident 2010, Deschutes The Abyss 2010, Deschutes Jubel 2010, Equiox Barley Wine, BrewDog Tokio, Bruery Cuir, a six pack of Dale’s, and some of our homebrew.
Now I need to detox from all the great food and drink we had. Happy New Year!
You had me at Bourbon Barrel Yeti! Sounds like an amazing line up – I bet you wish you could remember it! 🙂
Naughty is the new nice. I confess to drinking martinis instead of beer over New Year, spent in Philadelphia seeing the Mummers. Triumph Brewing has some magical concoctions, and food that would convert any vegetarian in the blink of an eye.
Martini’s are good – what ever gets you in the spirit, right? And I like the idea that naughty is the new nice, as I’ve always considered myself a VERY nice guy – this will certainly put me over the top!
Anchor Steam makes a delicious Christmas Ale each year (and each year it’s different). They also happen to sell them in gigantic 1.75L bottles. I took part in drinking a few of those over the last few weeks.
Wow – that’s a pretty big beer!
I got to taste a bunch of good stuff while spending the holidays in Northwest Indiana. I was staying within 10 minutes of the Three Floyds brewery, so of course I had to sample their wares. From them, I tried Broo Doo, a wet-hopped IPA, Apocalypse Cow, a double IPA brewed with a bit of lactose, Moloko, a milk stout, another stout they call Black Sun, and a Christmas porter called Alpha Klaus. On Christmas Day, I had Mikkeller’s Santa’s Little Helper. I went to this bar called Beer Geeks, where I had Stone’s Vertical Epic and Great Divide’s Oak-Aged Yeti Imperial Stout. On New Years Eve I had Goose Island’s Sofie, Brooklyn’s Black Chocolate Stout, and Founders Breakfast Stout. At some point, I had some Victory Dark Intrigue, and I flew back to Maine with a bottle each of the Oak-Aged Yeti, regular Yeti, Hoppin’ Frog’s Bourbon Barrel-Aged B.O.R.I.S., and something called Big Edy.
Sounds like an awesome holiday, but I wouldn’t expect a Christmas card from your liver next year! 🙂
My liver and I haven’t been on speaking terms for quite some time now, but alas, it was a fantastic week and a half. I also failed to mention the fact that my girlfriend’s cousin gave us a bottle of Three Floyds elusive 15th Anniversary concoction, Ballerstout, which is being aged for a very special day.
Jeff, Big Eddy is super. Its a Russian Imperial Stout from Leinenkugel’s, and fantastic! At 9.5ABV its outside my normal comfort range but I really love this stuff. Cross your fingers that Miller’s continues to allow Leinies to do their own thing.
That’s the one! Couldn’t recall the brewer. Northwest Indiana is like imperial stout heaven, compared to Southern Maine. Something else I forgot to mention is the 15% ABV beast that is Shmaltz Brewing Company’s 15th Anniversary He’Brew Ale. Stashed a bottle back in Indiana. Moving within three months, probably gonna try it then.
Just assure me that Schmaltz doesn’t have a beer based on chicken fat (LOL)!
I drank in Toronto and then San Francisco. I find it hard to come by good beer in Toronto, though I thought an IPA by Dieu de Ciel (imported from Quebec!) was decent. In San Francisco, I had Alaskan Perseverance, a pretty great Russian Imperial Stout. Rogue’s Maple Bacon Doughnut Stout smelled great, but didn’t taste like much, strangely enough. I also had Old Stock by North Coast, possibly the most bourboney beer I’ve ever had, which isn’t a bad thing.