A last-minute guide to using your 8 tickets at this year's Winter Beer Fest, December 15th & 16th.
image sourced from the organizer’s website
For those still comfortably seated on their couches, loveseats, or ergonomic chairs, we're 10 days away from Christmas Eve. We're also, 1 day away from the annual Winter beer festival known as Winter Beer Fest. Presented this year by the Washington Brewers Guild, this is your opportunity to try beers from 40+ breweries. All that's asked of you is $45 in exchange for 3 hours to enjoy 8 4 ounce samples, or roughly 2 pints of beer. Oh, and what to enjoy? Funny you should ask!
Recognizing the importance of knowing what beers to sample, we have our top 8 beers to try. Without delay, here they are.
Burke-Gilman Under Every Deep, A Lower Deep Opens Barleywine. We've enjoyed prior years from this multi-award winning brewery. We have a feeling this might be a winner.
Beardslee Peppermint Russian Imperial Stout. Based on the description, we're anticipating junior mints. But that's probably wishful thinking. Instead, we're guessing it will probably taste something more akin to Peppermint Schnaps in your coffee. Either way, we don't see this as a wasted spend.
Georgetown Mom, Coconut Was Never A Choice, It's A Lifestyle Porter with coconut. If this is anything like their other creations, the coconut won't be overwhelming or underwhelming. Instead, we're guessing it will be just right. The men and women at the brewery never disappoint with their variants.
Icicle Barrel-aged Darkest (or pretty much any variant of ...) Persuasion. If you're a fan of German Chocolate cake, then you'll love this holiday sweet treat. Released around this time of the year, Dark Persuasion reminds us that beer can taste like dessert. So consider it high advised to not miss a chance to try their other versions.
Ladd & Lass Deprived of Light Imperial Stout. One of the newer breweries we think get overlooked too often, add the brewery and this beer to your list of "try it". Who knows, you might like it!
Stoup Powder Tracks Winter Ale. As one of the more established breweries on the list, you can't go wrong with a lager in December. But don't let the term ale fool you, the only thing that will be light is your feet if you drink too many of these.
The other two we leave to you to decide.
But if you are looking for one more option, consider a Bale Breaker High Camp Winter IPA. Otherwise look out for the unexpected, like a hazy ipa, crisp lager, or maybe a dark lager. Those are also on this list, and might surprise you.
If you've not considered it yet, there are two sessions to choose from, one on Friday and one on Saturday. We've included the link in the article and also below. Also, included below is a link to the draft/draught list. Finally, this will be the first year we won't be attending unless a change occurs to our plans. So consider this a silent request to be our spirit liver, should you trial any of our suggestions.
Happy Holidays!
