Tuesday night the locally, and nationally, famous beer writer Don Russell (aka Joe Sixpack) taught a class on holiday beers at Tria's Fermentation School.As he led us through 8 holiday beers, he touched upon various topics in his new book Wishing You A Very Merry Christmas Beer. I haven't quite finished browsing this book, but so far it seems to be a good reference for Christmas beers...er, I mean, the more marketable term holiday beers.
The highlights of the class are likely to show up in a segment on NPR's All Things Considered. They followed him to the happy hour at Tria before the class, and taped the entire class. If you hear a really nice pour soundbite, that was me. It'll be interesting to see how they piece it together; NPR wasn't giving up their angle. I'm especially curious to see how it turns out, as the interviewer seemed to have only recently learned a bit about beer. I talked to her after the class when she was tasting all of the beers she had just heard about for an hour and a half.
Speaking of beer....here's the line-up:
- Anchor Brewing Company Christmas Ale 2008 (San Francisco, CA)
- Brasserie Dupont Avec Les Bon Voeux (Tourpes-Leuze, Belgium)
- Mikkeller Santa's Little Helper 2008 (Lochristi-Hijfte, Belgium)
- Sly Fox Christmas Ale 2008 (Royersford, PA)
- Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale 2008 (Tadcaster, England)
- Tröeg's Mad Elf (Harrisburg, PA)
- De Struise Tsjeeses (Woesten-Vleteren, Belgium)
- Castle Brewery Eggenberg Samichlaus Bier 2008 (Eggenberg, Austria)
Sly Fox Christmas wins the award for beer I'd most like to have some holiday food with; rife with notes of clove, allspice, nutmeg, pumpkin and cinnamon, it would be awesome with a delicious seasonal dessert.
Perhaps the factoid of the night: St. Nicholas is the patron saint of brewers, lawyers and prostitutes. Funny how that makes sense.
Next Tuesday: Importer Matthias Neidhart of B.United International will lead a class at Tria on rare winter beers.
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