An Adventful December?

One of the highlights of growing up in Germany, the joys of being an Army brat, was getting a fancy German Advent calendar with chocolates rather than just wee pictures - perhaps my memory is faulty but I always remember the British ones being somewhat dull as a kid. Complete side thought, Germans in particular, and more broadly central Europeans, do Christmas the best. Any how, it seems that Craft Beer™ Advent Calendars have been all the rage in recent years and I thought I'd jump on the old bandwagon. Only one minor issue, I have an aversion to having stuff curated for me, I much prefer to survey what's available and make my own decisions, yes I can be something of a contrarian, I know.

The plan as it currently stands is to buy 24 bottles of seasonal beers, drink one each day of Advent, and then write a blog post about it. Pretty simple really, and if you have any recommendations of beers to include, I am all ears - assuming I can find them in the stores of central Virginia.

However, Advent is just the lead up to Christmas, and so naturally that got me thinking about what I am going to have on my table come dinner time on the 25th. I have a decent collection of big boozy beers that would go nicely with dessert - hopefully Mrs V is going to have another stab at making a traditional British Christmas pudding, minus the coins. So I need something from the cellar to go with pud, here's the long list of options:

• Schlafly Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout - 2013 vintage
• Olde Hickory Irish Walker Barleywine - 2012 vintage
• Victory Old Horizontal - 2010 vintage
• Bell's 25th Anniversary Ale (2010)
• North Coast Old Stock Ale - 2010, 2012, 2013, 2016 vintages
• Fuller's Vintage Ale - 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 vintages
• Starr Hill Bandstand Barleywine - 2013 vintage
• Lickinghole Creek Enlightened Despot Batch 1 (2014)
• Alewerks Brewing Grand Illumination - 2009 vintage
• O'Hara's Barleywine Aged in Irish Whiskey Barrels Edition 3 - 2015 vintage

Naturally with twin 14 month old sons to deal with I won't be just parking on the couch and drinking all of the above, though tempting it may be, so I will have my latest batch of my best bitter homebrew on the kegerator, this time hopped with Australian Galaxy.