Brian Nagele
While there are loads of holiday cocktails and people love to pop open bottles of wine, there’s nothing better than a tasty Christmas beer.
This list rounds up the seventeen best Christmas beers ever.
Don’t waste your time or money on subpar Christmas beers, as the holiday season is so short. You only have from October to December to enjoy these warm, toasty beers!
So forget about the eggnog and try one or more of these delectable ales made just for the holiday season.
Try out these Christmas-themed beers during the holiday season.
Deschutes Jubelale
This dessert-inspired beer is a sweet, fruity treat that pairs well with your favorite holiday pie.
The Cherries Jubelale from Deschutes Brewery has flavors of cherry and vanilla. This barrel-aged Super Jubel is a decadent and sweet beer.
The beer features pale, extra special, caramel, and roast malts, giving it a deep color with subtle hints of red. It uses East Kent Goldings hops, adding a slight bitterness that balances the sweetness.
This holiday beer is a limited release, so get it while you can! However, it has a 9.2% ABV, so don’t have too many or you may have trouble remembering all the holiday cheer.
If you enjoy dessert-y beers, this is the alcoholic perfect addition to the holiday dessert table.
Great Lakes Christmas Ale
This is the ultimate Christmas beer, as it’s a beautiful amber color with festive flavors and a smooth finish.
The ale features delicious ingredients, like fresh honey, cinnamon, and ginger flavors.
The Great Lakes Christmas Ale is an easy-drinking beverage, so it’s excellent for a cozy night by the fire or a popular choice at a Christmas party.
There are Cascade and Mt. Hood hops, adding a mild bitterness and subtle but bright flavor, creating a complex mix of warm notes with bitterness.
And the beer uses tons of malts, including 2-row, wheat, crystal 45, a specialty roast, and barley.
These malts give the beer a comforting flavor without being too heavy or bland.
Prairie Christmas Bomb
The Prairie Christmas Bomb is a strong imperial stout full of rich and festive spices.
This is the best beer to have with a chocolate-y Christmas dessert and sit by the fire. It’s full of warm flavors and has a soft, creamy texture that leaves nothing to be desired.
It’s hard to fall in love with this beer from the first sip, as it tingles your tastebuds and has a silky smooth finish that will keep you coming back for more.
Since it’s imperial, it has a high ABV of 13%, so it will put you in a jolly Christmas spirit!
With cacao nibs, chilies, Christmas spices, coffee, and vanilla beans, it’s an outstanding combination of sweet and spicy flavors.
Revolution Fistmas
This hearty ale has a captivating mix of tastes that sit on your palette and warm your belly.
You’ll want to try this beer after seeing the cheery can featuring Saint Nick himself enjoying a stein of red ale.
It features notes of caramel, fresh-baked bread, and stone fruits like apricots and peaches.
The bready flavor paired with the fruity notes makes for a refreshing yet cozy red ale ideal for Christmas dinner.
You’ll also pick up the taste of orange peel and ginger, making for a bright red ale full of holiday cheer!
Revolution brewing always produces flavorful beers with a distinct profile, and Revolution Fistmas will not disappoint fans of this brewery.
Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve
Another excellent Christmas red ale is the Santa’s Private Reserve ale from Rogue Brewing.
This beer is unique because one of the main ingredients is candy cap mushrooms.
Mushrooms in a beer? These mushrooms bring a strong maple flavor to the beer without being too sweet. Along with the flavor, the beer has a strong maple aroma that is enticing and festive.
The red ale has a malty, mildly bitter taste that is the perfect halfway point between pale ales and IPAs.
Once you try this limited-time ale, you will want to stock up, so you have plenty to get you through the holiday season.
Hardywood Kentucky Christmas Morning
The first thing that stands out about Hardywood’s Kentucky Christmas Morning beer is the short bottle that gives it a rustic and old-timey appearance.
For those who live for gingerbread, there is no better beer! Kentucky Christmas Morning is a gingerbread stout with robust spices and a burst of cinnamon.
It’s aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels for a decadent taste. The flavor profile has layers of coconut, vanilla, and toasted oak, which will make your mouth water.
And the final step to creating this indulgent stout is filtering it through roasted Blanchard’s Co beans. With Columbus and Fuggle hops, this is unlike any other stout you’ve had.
Breckenridge Christmas Ale
The Breckenridge Christmas Ale is one of the better-known Christmas beers, and it’s especially popular in its home state of Colorado.
This red ale has a bright, festive color that will remind you of Santa’s suit, from the deep red body to the fluffy white head.
And there is nothing subtle about the flavor, as this is a malt-forward beverage with notes of caramel and chocolate.
The bitterness from the Chinook and Mt. Hood hops add a spicy and bitter flavor for the perfect balance of sweet and spice.
It has a strong flavor on your tongue but has a smooth, refined finish at the end, making it delectable for your Christmas dinner or the end of a long holiday.
Bell’s Christmas Ale
The Bell’s Christmas ale is a beautifully crafted holiday beer only available during October, November, and December.
If you want to try this beer, make sure you keep a keen eye out, as it isn’t the easiest Christmas beer to find. But it’s well worth the hunt!
This Christmas ale is a traditional Scotch Ale with strong malty notes of caramel with a toasty finish. Scotch Ales are rich and full of flavor, so you’ll be blown away by the taste of this delicious drink.
If you want a heartier, heavy beer, this will check those boxes. It has a dark, coffee color with a pure white head, making it beautiful in flavor and appearance.
Samuel Adams White Christmas
Samuel Adams is one of the most popular breweries in Boston, and they’re known for their fabulous seasonal beers that keep beer lovers on their toes.
And one of their most beloved and elusive seasonal beers is their White Christmas ale.
This Belgian-style witbier has a beautiful citrus flavor with a hazy consistency that makes it excellent for sipping on a cold winter night.
The Sam Adams’ Holiday White ale is the same recipe, featuring bright lemon and orange flavors, but sometimes the beer’s name changes based on the location.
With orange peel, fresh species, and a smooth finish, this is one of the easiest holiday beers to enjoy!
Bronx Brewery Jingle Jangle
For something a little bit lighter and refreshing, the Jingle Jangle ale from Bronx Brewing is satisfying and flavorful.
This is a copper ale with Sterling and Tettnanger hops that give the Christmas ale a bright flavor with comforting notes of toasted wood.
It’s aged with Amburana wood and has just the right amount of spice to excite your taste buds.
It also features several grains, including copper Carapils, midnight wheat, and extra pale, for a rich, bready flavor that isn’t too heavy on your stomach but is still packed with festive flavors.
It’s only available in November and December, so take advantage of it while you can!
Tröegs Mad Elf
Tröegs Mad Elf is a popular Christmas ale across the nation, so you’ve likely heard of this one or noticed the funky label when browsing beers in a liquor store.
This is a strong beer, so it’s not for the faint of heart.
With an 11% ABV, this beer might just make you mad with holiday spirit and cheer! The list of ingredients for this beer seems endless.
It includes some fascinating ingredients such as cherries, chocolate, honey, and tons of spices.
While the weird elf on the bottle may be a bit unsettling, the beer makes you feel right at home and pairs well with a Christmas cheese board or juicy glazed ham.
Avery Old Jubilation
The Avery Old Jubilation is an English strong ale with an elegant and complex flavor profile.
It has a gorgeous mahogany color and a myriad of cozy ingredients. It was brewed with hazelnut, mocha coffee, and five specialty malts.
Unlike most of the Christmas ales on this list, this one is not loaded with spices, so you get a smoother, less intense finish on your palette.
Some people find the mixture of cloves, cinnamon, and ginger overwhelming. If you agree, you’ll likely adore this comfortable ale that still has the sweet flavors of Christmastime.
This beer pairs impeccably with sweet holiday treats, like Christmas chocolates, toffees, or nuts.
It can be hard to find a beer that the whole family will enjoy, but this well-balanced English ale is often a safe choice that will please all, no matter what kind of beer they usually drink.
Double Mountain Fa La La La La
The Double Mountain Fa La La La La has a fun name and exciting flavors.
Double Mountain believes that not every holiday beer needs to be super heavy and dark, so they created a light beer for those who want to celebrate the Christmas season with a subtler drink.
The beer features centennial hops along with evergreen and bright citrus ingredients.
The Pilsner and Crystal malts bring a refreshing and deep flavor without being too heavy or filling.
This well-rounded IPA is aromatic and crisp, giving IPA lovers a reason to love the Christmas beer season! Don’t miss out on this herbal and refreshing winter IPA.
Southern Tier 2XMAS
If you want to go the other route and drink a Christmas beer loaded with those festive flavors and spices, Southern Tier’s 2XMAS ale should hit the spot.
It features fig paste, orange peels, ginger root, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom, for a powerful and unforgettable winter taste.
Southern Tier wanted to make one of the warmest and spiciest Christmas beers, and they succeeded.
The beer is a dark brown color, almost like molasses, exemplifying the concoction of ingredients and warm tastes.
This beer might not be for everyone, but this spiced double ale is the ideal Christmas beer for people who love a heavy drink.
St. Bernardus Christmas Ale
The St. Bernardus Christmas Ale is another dark winter beer that will give your belly that warm tingly feeling.
It is a dark brown ale with a cream-colored head that is frothy and smooth. This dark beer has a slightly fruity flavor that might throw you off, as many find it an unexpected flavor profile.
Along with orange and citrus, it tastes like fire-roasted chestnuts and caramel. This beer is zesty and spicy with a warm, refined finish.
It’s the perfect beer to settle down with after a long day of opening presents and stuffing your belly with turkey and other Christmas treats.
Shiner Holiday Cheer
The Shiner Holiday Cheer beer is one of the most popular Christmas beers, and you can find it at almost any liquor store with a decent beer selection.
The beer has peaches and pecans, for a fruity, nutty, and festive ale that will become your new favorite Christmas drink.
It has a dark amber color with a light tan head that is foamy and soft. The beer strongly smells of peach with slight hints of banana and caramel.
While the smell isn’t nutty, you get the rich pecan flavor when you take a sip, dissipating into a moderately sweet caramel flavor with hints of graham cracker.
