Here are a few of my favorite beverages from the holiday week that just passed.

Two standbys for me date back to the pre-craft beer evolution/revolution, two beers you could always count on – Bass “The World’s First Pale Ale”) Guinness Extra Stout in the stubby bottle, not the nitro cans or bottles. Since there’s a built-in nostalgia to the season, Bass and Guinness Extra Stout are always go-to seasonals for me.

Another great beer from the United Kingdom – Courage Imperial Russian Stout. This was a 2013 vintage. A line of type at the top of the front label reads “As originally brewed in 1795 for Catherine the Great of Russia.” Lucky Catherine!

The Courage Brewery, founded in 1787, bounced around between many owners since 1970 when a British tobacco company bought it. Since 2007, the Courage brand has been owned by Wells & Young of Bedford (it was once my local brewery). They obviously respect the tradition of this incredible 10 percent stout. Brewed boldly with extra malt and hops to withstand the long voyage to Catherine’s court, this is a bruiser packed with luscious flavors of dark chocolate and dark fruits.

Port is another beverage that comes wrapped in the nostalgia of Christmases past, dating specifically back to my years in England, where port and sherry flowed at Christmas. Went for a tawny port this year, Warre’s King’s Tawny Port. Rich, fruity, deep flavors.
Warre’s, the label states, is “Purveyor to HM the Queen of Denmark’s Household.” About the Queen gets it by the cask. Lucky Queen!

“Candy for grownups,” is how a friend reacted to a Christmas Eve pouring of Hinterland’s Bourbon Barrel Doppelbock. And I wholeheartedly concur. Yummy! Treat yourself with this great beer from Green Bay.

There is an element of birth, of the new, to the season, so Oso’s Winds of Change seemed appropriate. Marc Buttera and his brewers love to experiment. This experiment is a dry-hopped pale ale fermented with wild hops and aged six months in oak barrels. It comes, appropriately, in a champagne bottle. It is a sparkling beer with a nice tangy finish.

To address the colorful, cheery element of the season, Lindeman’s Kriek Lambic Belgian Cherry Beer. There is a heaven and it is packed in this bottle! My Christmas wish is to have a never-empty barrel of this on everyone’s shelf. What a beautiful world it would be.