My 2014 Christmas Fridge

Since 2008 I have been posting about the beer I have in my fridge for the Christmas holidays. I have been enjoying having a variety of beers in my fridge since first discovering the craft beer world. At Christmastime my fridge seems to have more of a variety of beer than any other time of the year.

Last Christmas I went out and bought a beer fridge, so Teena is more than happy to have the extra space for food in our kitchen fridge. It's a small fridge so some of these beers I may have only 2 or 3 of. So here are the beers I have this year that are not taking up room in the fridge in the kitchen:

• Black Oak Pale Ale - a favorite and a regular visitor to my fridge.
• Mill Street Vanilla Porter  - Teena tried this at the airport and enjoyed it.
• Garrison Imperial IPA - a nice hoppy beer. I want to do their brewery tour one day.
• Flying Monkeys Smashbomb Atomic IPA - another regular in my fridge.
• 100 Mile Pale Ale - to be featured in this week's Beer of the Week.
• Great Lakes Crazy Canuck Pale Ale - a favorite of mine. I'll be getting more to have while cheering on our Canadian Downhillers at the Sochi Winter Olymics.
• Wychwood Brewery Bah Humbug -  a nicely spiced Christmas ale.
• Cameron's RPA -  my first taste of a Rye Pale Ale and I was hooked on them.
• Fullers 2010 and 2011 Vintage Ale - every year they brew them different. I need to get some 2013.
• Double Trouble Hops and Robbers - I love the citrussy tones in this ale.
• Unibroue Terrible - a 10.5% APV beer in a 750ml bottle. I'll have this on a more daring day.
• Witches Brew - another potent 9.3% beer in a 750 bottle. This one's from Belgium.
• Goose Island Sophie - I have been meaning to write about this one. Maybe I'll do that this week!
• Lake of Bays China Wall - After taking the above picture, our neighbors, Simone and Steve, dropped off a bottle of wine and this Vienna dark lager as Teena looks after their cat, Mabelline, when they go away. I didn't want to bring out all the beer again for another shot so did this one on its own.

Have a safe and happy holiday season! HoHoHo!

My 2012 Christmas Fridge

Every year at Christmas I head to the liquor store, beer store, plus receive beer as presents, all which gives me a great variety of beer for the Christmas holidays.

This year was no different.

Although a few more may be added to this collection over the weekend, this is what I have so far for the end of this year. Some are singles, others are in six packs. I did not include the Fullers Vintage Ale that I have in a cool dark place aging.

Three of the beers are from Church-Key Brewing ... the Northumberland Cream Ale, which I received from my sister, Judy and her husband Doug, the West Coast Pale Ale and a single bottle of Zwei Welten Dunkelweizen Bock which I bought from the brewery.

There also is a bottle of Skull Splitter Ocardian Ale  from Scotland, plus from England, a few Wychwood Brewery Bah Humbug Ales which I enjoy on Christmas eve. Also from England is good size bottle of the 6.5% Meantimetime London Porter.

My nephew Kyle and his wife, Kerri, gave me some Beau's Lug Tread Lagered Ale which is a Kolsch from Vankleek Hill, Ontario, about half way between Ottawa and Montreal. The Hops and Robbers from Double Trouble Brewing is also from Ontario.

I am so looking forward to exploring the Historic Ales of Scotland from Williams Brothers Brewing featuring a Gooseberry Ale, a Scots Pine Ale, an Elderberry Ale which I have written about before, plus a Heather Ale brewed in Scotland since sometime in history known as B.C.

Teena works with Dorothy from Vancouver and she gave Teena a bottle of Allagash Tripel from Portland, Maine. when they were in Montreal for their Christmas party last week. Another new brewery to try! From the same province where Dorothy lives is the Hop Head  from Tree Brewing.

Finally is Le Terrible from Unibroue Brewing in Quebec.

I will be writing about many of them but trying them all!

Happy holidays!

My 2011 Christmas Fridge

Back in 2008, I started into the world of craft beer. Before that I was "Buck a Beer Gord" searching for taste in cheap beer. Once I discovered craft beer, it was all about taste. That year I pulled everything out of my fridge to see what I had and was surprised by the variety. So I blogged about it.

Now it has become tradition. So here is this years Christmas fridge.

It is beer which I have just bought tonight, some beer I have received as gifts and some which I have had in the fridge aging. This year's variety seems bigger.

From left to right:

• Muskoka Brewery Mad Tom. Just bought tonight. I love it's hoppiness.
• Barley Days Yuletide Cherry Porter. A beer of the week (BOTW) a few weeks ago. I had bought a six pack.
• Amarcord La Tabachera is a high alcohol beer Italian craft beer from a BOTW back in August which I have been aging.
• Next is an upcoming German 3 bottle beer set which I got as a gift from my sister, Judy, and her husband, Doug. Looking forward to this!
• Fullers put out a Past Masters series. I have the strong ale and porter which are made from an old recipe. Yes I will be writing about them.
• Black Oak sold out of their excellent Nutcracker Porter last month. I had bought a dozen and have just 2 left. Lucky me!
• I have only one Grolsch from 6 I bought last weekend. It was gone somehow by the time the rest was put away.
• I have a variety of Faxe, a Danish beer which will be an upcoming BOTW.
• Fullers Vintage is in the middle. Every year I buy 3, 1 for this year, 1 for next and the other for 2 years down the road. That way I always have 3 to compare. It's fu to do!
• Crazy Canuck in is my fridge the majority of the time as I think it is one of the most perfect beers out there.
• I just did Keith's as my beer of the week and have 2 left.
• Flying Monkeys Netherworld is another favorite that finds my fridge quite often. I great black Cascadian ale.
• Our neighbor gave me the gift pack of Old Speckled Hen which was a bottle and a glass. Looking forward to it.
• I love Tree Hop Head, another regular to my fridge.
• Paddock Wood from Saskatchewan makes a great lager with their Czech-Mate Lager. Another regular.

Merry Christmas to me! A beer fridge is a must in 2012.

Christmas Fridge - 2010

Since I decided to really start exploring beer, I have had a lot of variety of beer in our fridge. I must say that Teena is very patient working the groceries around the beer stock and has been firm when I feel we should throw out the milk in order to jam in another new beer that I have discovered.

In last year's Christmas fridge post, I said that "In 2010, one of my goals is to get a beer fridge for the back room so Teena does not have to work around getting all the shopping fitted into the fridge around my beer."

OK, that didn't happen. We redid the back room and cannot figure where a beer fridge might go. So instead we, meaning Teena, is still working around the beer.

This is the third year I have taken stock of the beer in the fridge at Christmas. Interesting to see all that I have to sample over the holidays.

In 2008, I had 7 different beers. In 2009, I had 11 different beers, 12 if you count the two different years for the 2008 and 2009 Fullers Vintage Ale.

This year, it's 11 different beers, 13 if you count the 3 different years for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 Fullers Vintage Ale. Some of it has some volume. This year I am doing it in two categories, old favorites and new brews.

Old Favorites
- King Pilsner
- Flying Monkees Hoptical Illusion
- Mill Street Tankhouse Ale
- Grolsch Lager - Big 1.5 litre bottle - Thanks, Judy and Doug!
- Fullers Vintage Ale, 2008, 2009

New Brews
- Half Pints Stir Stick Stout - Thanks, Teena!
- Lake of Bays Mocha Stout
- Half Pints Little Scrapper IPA- Thanks again, Teena!
- Thirsty Beaver Amber Ale - Once again thanks, Teena!
- Church Key West Coast IPA - Growler -Thanks, Gord!
- Harvey's Bitter - Thanks, Sarah and Joey
- Fullers Vintage Ale 2010.

Teena also has a Keiths IPA.

Sure looking forward to some sampling and posting during our vacation.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Fridge - 2009

Last year at Christmas, I found myself surprised by the number of different beers that I had in our fridge and posted about it. I used to have lots of beer in the fridge but they were all the same kind. Last year I had seven different beers.

This year, there is even more variety ... 11 different beers, 12 if you count the two different years for the 2008 and 2009 Fullers Vintage Ale. The other English beer I have has now become a Christmas tradition, Wychwood's Bah Humbug.

I have only one beer from the U.S., Two Hearted Ale from Bells Brewery in Michigan. I had brought back a 24 of it from Pittsburgh when I was there recently.

From Quebec, I have a Griffon Extra Pale Ale from McAuslan Brewery. It is not a great beer but I had to try it as I am a huge fan of their St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout.

Teena, who hails originally from the east coast, bought a half dozen Keith's, one of the few big brewery beers that I enjoy.

The rest of the brands are all from good ole Ontario. Two are from Black Oak Brewery , their fabulous Black Oak Pale Ale, and seasonal bottle conditioned, Summer Saison. Another two come from Great Lakes Brewery, which is just around the corner from Black Oak, the Seasonal Winter Ale and their terrific Devils 666 Pale Ale.

One of my favorite pilsners, Kings Pilsner from King Brewery just outside of King City, Ontario, sits on the shelf beside the Northumberland Ale, from Church-Key Brewing Company located in Campbellford, Ontario, which came to me as a Christmas present from my sister, Judy, and her husband, Doug. I will be trying it today as the Beer of the Week. Thanks, guys!!

All 11 brands are strategically placed in the fridge to allow sufficient room for food. In 2010, one of my goals is to get a beer fridge for the back room so Teena does not have to work around getting all the shopping fitted into the fridge around my beer.

Christmas Fridge - 2008

Once upon a time I thought a well-stocked fridge meant that the beer shelf was full. And it was full of just one single brand of beer. That brand could change over the years.

This Christmas things have changed as I have gone down the dark side enjoying the pleasures of sampling many of the great beers from Ontario, across Canada, the U.S. and the world.

Now a well-stocked fridge has an entirely different meaning. For Christmas Eve, our fridge contained seven ... that's right, seven different beers from three different countries.

I have a growler of the excellent Granite Brewery Peculiar Ale. It will go down good on NFL Sunday.

I have a couple of bottles left of Saint Andres Lager. I am not a big lager fan but thought I would give this a try. It's not my style but has plenty of taste and I think a lager fan would find this much to their liking.

There are a few Southern Tier IPA, a delicious American Pale Ale.

A great find for me was the Sgt Major IPA from Scotch Irish Brewing. The stubbies are line up neatly on the fridge door.

I brought home a suitcase 12 pack of one of my favorite Pilsners and the green bottles of Steamwhistle look quite festive sitting on the shelf.

Waiting for a tasting are my two bottles of Black Sheep Ale from Black Sheep Brewing, a brewery in Yorkshire England which will be my next Beer of the Week.

Finally there is the Signature Ale from County Durham, with it's nice hoppy bite.

In the past few months I have found many new favorites and agree with that old saying that variety is the spice of life.

Going to be a tasty Christmas, HoHoHo!