Sunday, December 20, 2009

Holiday Cheers

The wife asked me to decorate her SIXTH Christmas tree in our house which is located out on our sun-porch. She said I could decorate it anyway I wanted to. So be it.! I give you the Beer Tree! The surprising thing was she actually liked it! So I guess this will become a holiday tradition and will change yearly as it will reflect what I am currently partaking of during the holiday season. Plus, I got an idea for tinsel made of beer caps that has the potential of being pretty darn cool.

This year I went by the Mt. Juliet Beer Company Store and bought four six-packs to serve at our Christmas party. After popping the bottles in the ice bin for serving, it justed seemed appropriate to use the colorful, empty cartons as ornaments. From top to bottom there is the Backdraft Brown out of Pennsylvania, the Starr Hill Juno Lager out of Virginia, the Magic Hat Winter Ale out of Vermont and the Rogue Santa's Reserve Ale out of Oregon.

I also got a growler of Southern Pecan Brown Ale from Lazy Magnolia Brewing in Mississippi (don't let the Yazoo label on it fool you). I also placed a couple of other high-alcohol beers underneath which were bought in Chattanooga earlier this season. They were the Acme IPA (small bottle) out of California, and a pint oif Delirium Noel from Belgium (big bottle on the floor on the far right). Speaking of high-alcohol beer, I also received a four-pack of 10% ABV Dogfish Head 120-Minute IPA from my friend at work, Joy. My wife and I got a 12-pack containing six varieties of Flying Dog brews from our friends, John and Dorie. Then, my brother-in-law, Andy, got me two IPA growlers as well. One was Sierra Nevada and the other...he can't remember, but he will be investigating it again next week to get the name. Thank you so much, everybody!!

I will follow up this post in the next few weeks with a quick run-down of what I thought of all this beer. Gonna be a busy holiday season!!