Tulsa Food

Every year at this time, craft brewers start releasing their “Holiday” beers. All to often, these beers are over-spiced and almost undrinkable. Filled with things such as mint, spruce, pine, and nutmeg, holiday beers are often more akin to drinking a liquefied Christmas candle than they are a beer. But with the help of a few of my McNellie’s managers, we sifted through this year’s crop to produce a few recommendations in order to save from the sensation of drinking “malty Scope” or “Holiday Cough Syrup” that we got to experience.

For the record, we tasted the following: some good, some bad, some mediocre, but we thought it best to expound upon the ones we would buy again.

• Sam Adam’s Winter Lager
• Avery Jubilation
• Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve
• Pyramid Snow Cap
• Anchor Christmas
• Flying Dog K-9
• Stegmeier Holiday Warmer
• Great Divie Hibernation
• Bridgeport Ebenezer
• St. Peter’s Bah Humbug (One of my favorite tasting notes: Blah Humbug)
• Battered Boar’s Chuck’s Pumpkin
• Pete’s Wonderlust
• St. Peter’s Winter Ale
• Sierra Nevada Celebration
• Ayinger Weizen Bock
• Sam Smith Winter Welcome

Also, for what’s it worth, we were unable to get any of Shiner’s Christmas beer but we’ve heard it’s good.

[Show as slideshow]

Anchor Christmas: This is one of the few extremely spiced beers that worked for us. It’s probably closer in taste to eggnog than beer. Anchor uses a healthy helping off nutmeg and what tastes like ginger. We decided it tasted like dipping a ginger bread cookie in a dopplebock with a hint of nutmeg – ok, maybe that’s too much. Either way, if you want something that tastes distinctly like Christmas without the sensation that you just ate a pine tree – this is the one.

Great Divide Hibernation: In addition to over spicing, a lot of the brewers choose to add a lot of malt to their Holiday beers. This produces a sweetness and a body, but unfortunately in a lot of our samples, the sweetness was overtaken by the pine flavor. The Hibernation however, combines the sweetness of malt with a bit of Christmas spice, but still manages to pack the hops punch of a standard Great Divide beer. In that, this was one of the better balanced beers which we had, which is something you can’t always say for Great Divide.

Sierra Nevada Celebration: This was the cleanest hop profile of any beer we had. It lacks a lot of the “seasonal” flavorings of the other beers, but it’s a fine product that bears a lot of similarity to Sierra’s other fine beers – especially their Harvest. If you like hops and all you need in a holiday beer is a label telling you it’s the holidays, get the Celebration. It is decidedly un-Christmassy, which after drinking 15 or so of these things is a welcome surprise.

Ayinger Weizen-Bock: I’ll be honest, I am a bit biased towards Ayinger – I think it’s the best German brewery available to us. And, admittedly, this beer isn’t exactly a “holiday” beer. But hey, it had snow on the label and that’s good enough for us. It’s a subtle 7.1% ABV, which can sneak up on you if you aren’t paying attention. Thankfully, this beer tastes more like a Christmas dessert than a Christmas decoration, which is saying something in this crowd. In fact, the closest we could get to nailing down the flavor was Weber’s Root Beer, Ayinger float anyone?

Battered Boar Chuck’s Pumpkin Ale: Battered Boar is the latest addition to Oklahoma’s burgeoning beer scene. They bottle condition their beers, which in the case of the pumpkin ale, provides a good concentration of CO2 on the nose. Everyone loved the beer, describing it as anything from pumpkin bread, to my own personal “pumpkin flavored cream soda.” It might be better linked to the last holiday on the calendar, but I would go grab some while it’s still available.

About Elliot Nelson:

Elliot Nelson is a Tulsa restaurateur responsible for bringing Tulsa four great establishments: McNellies, Dilly Deli, El Guapo and Yokozuna. Elliot has traveled the world to find the best food and cultures to create a unique experience for all of his guests. As a frequent contributor to Tulsa Food, Elliot will bring articles about food and culture from around the world, great beers and wines, and how to incorporate them into your lifestyle. All of Elliot’s Tulsa restaurants are located in the Blue Dome District in Downtown Tulsa, OK. He has also opened a McNellies location in Midtown Oklahoma City, OK and is planning to open a location in Norman, OK this year.

Stay tuned for more articles from Elliot Nelson…For more information or to visit one of Elliot’s restaurants visit the links below:

McNellies: http://www.mcnellies.com
Dilly Deli: http://www.dillydelitulsa.com
El Guapo: http://www.elguaposcantina.net
Yokozuna: http://www.yokozunatulsa.com

Be Sociable, Share Tulsa Food!

•