Christmas Beer: The Cheeriest, Tastiest and Most Unusual Holiday Brews

Christmas beers, also known as Winter Warmers, are a tradition dating back at least 2,000 years, with the ancients making highly intoxicating brews to celebrate winter€™s Saturnalia. This brewmaking evolved into a holiday celebration when medieval monks, the world€™s first professional brewers, pulled out their finest ingredients to produce soul-warming styles for the occasion. Today brewers continue the custom, either with centuries-old recipes or newfangled concoctions with spices and herbs, enabling thirsty beer fans to put aside their everyday favorites each winter and deck the halls with the world€™s most flavorful ales and lagers, brewed especially for the holidays.Beer expert Don Russell taps into holiday cheer with a look at the world€™s best€”unusual, exotic, rich, one-of-a-kind brews€”detailing the styles and flavors that will leave beer lovers in a froth. From Smuttynose Winter Ale to Santa€™s Butt to Troegs Mad Elf to Left Hand XXXmas, there€