Holiday Beers! What's Your Go-To Brew? #craftbeer #holidays #beer

Have you seen the calendar recently?  Mine says Nov. 17th already!  I'm betting yours does too.  Just one week until Thanksgiving, until the jolly old elf pulls up to Macy's, until the Lions and the Cowboys help lull us into a tryptophan-induced-coma!

You know what this all means, don't you?  Our favorite holiday beers are coming, if not already here, and you're going to have a lot of choices to make!

So...what ARE your favorite winter holiday/seasonal beers?  Any new brews coming up that have got you worked up into a frenzy?  What are your old, favorite stand-bys that you forward to like and old friend you only get to see during the annual "night-before-Thanksgiving-local-bar-crawl-in-the-old-neighborhood"?  Where are you favorite places or times to drink them?

Let us know...and wherever you are and whatever you're drinking, remember to drink responsibly and don't forget to be jolly. 'Tis the season!  


Cheers!

Life & Limb 2 via @Dogfishbeer & @SierraNevada

Amazing color and head. A smooooth and dangerous 10.2%.

Black IPA. Delicious but confusing...

See the full gallery on Posterous

I know.  A lot has been made of this oddly named gem of a beer.  How could a "pale" ale be a "black" ale?  Good question, and unfortunately for you, I don't have the answer.  I only know that this beer deserves a new name.  A real name.  A true name.  A name as unique as its flavor.

@TheBeerWench wrote a great article on the issue on her blog titled "That Which We Call A Rose: The Black IPA Name Debate".  She's equally confounded and split on how to handle this obviously delicate and uber-important issue, and that's reflective of many craft beer drinkers.

With all the talk and debate going on, what do you think?  Does it need a new name?  Already got one in mind?  Let the games begin!

Where did "Black IPA" come from anyway?

So I'm hearing that the term black IPA has become controversial.  Why?  I don't know.  Not much controversy in my eyes.  A misnomer?  Yes.  A controversy?  No.

The @BeerWench summarize the issues and her stance on each in her post on the subject at Drink With The Wench.  Ashley provides a deep enough history to understand the debate as well