What the Beer Lover in Your Life Wants from Sudsy Santa

Beer lovers are actually the easiest people to shop for, provided you don’t get them a suitcase of Michelob Ultra or an eighth pair of boxers with a bottle cap pattern. With so many local breweries, you can’t go wrong but here are a few sure-fire ways to gift right.

Belgium is famous for inventing fries (suck it, France) and perfecting beer (take that, Germany). It’s a weird, wonderful place where instead of Santa Claus, they have Sinterklaas. He doesn’t fly down from the North Pole but rather sails in from Spain, and instead of elves, he’s accompanied by Zwarte Pieten, an insanely racist troupe of assistants in Black face who steal naughty kids. But let’s focus on their mastery of beer. Better yet, let’s leave out anything from Belgian Christmas traditions and support Bend’s homegrown Belgian-inspired brewery, Monkless Belgian Ales. Just in time for yuletide cheer, Monkless’ Benedictine Series’ latest offering is called Rumbbel, so called because it’s their dubbel-style Dubbel or Nothing that’s been matured in spiced rum barrels from Oregon Spirit Distillers. This 8.7% beast is a beauty and nicely fills Monkless’ new giftable specialty Teku beer glass with the design in gold. The corked and caged bottle is $15 and the logoed glass is $14.

Credit: Courtesy of Crux Fermentation Project

Oregon, on the other hand, is famous for inventing tater tots (true fact) and also perfecting beer. Among its trailblazers is Bend’s very own Deschutes Brewery, founded in 1988. One of the most gift-worthy beers is Deschutes’ The Abyss imperial stout, delighting all the boys and girls on the Nice List since 2006. While it’s a treasure all its own, the brewery collaborated with Eugene’s Alesong Brewing & Blending, which is famous for spontaneous-fermented ales including ones co-fermented with wine grapes from the Valley. The collaborative effort that was released last week is called Vin to the Abyss and it’s an imperial stout made with Dutch cocoa and co-fermented with Merlot grapes from Weinbau Vineyards in Washington’s Horse Heaven Hills AVA, before resting in a combo of barrels — both Westward Whiskey and used Abyss barrels made of French Oak. At $19, this is a rare treat for beer lovers as well as adventurous wine afficionados.

Credit: Courtesy of Alesong Brewing & Blending

For those who enjoy the tried and true, Crux Fermentation Project just released its annual treat that’s as cherished as holiday screenings of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Elf, ” or “Die Hard: Tough Love.” Hailing from Crux’s Banished Series of barrel-aged beers, the 2024 vintage of Tough Love was aged in vaunted Willett Distillery bourbon barrels helping it clock in at a 14% ABV that’s sure to keep Jack Frost from nipping at your nose (and if he does, fortuitously, Crux has a few bottles of older vintages available that make for a great “vertical tasting” to invite Jack Frost and other chums to share). Wax-dipped bottles are $13 and in case it’s not warming enough, the $18 Crux beanies make great stocking stuffers.

In case that’s a bit too boozy, weighing in at half the alcoholic kick is Silver Moon Brewing’s Raspberry Nights, a porter that smacks of milk chocolate-dipped raspberries. Instead of one big bottle, it’s packaged in standard six packs for $10, meaning two of ’em cover all 12 nights of Christmas. Consider wrapping them up in Silver Moon’s new swag offerings, a black hooded windbreaker for $60 or a grey crew neck sweatshirt for $40.

And finally, Boss Rambler Beer Club gets doubly festively freaky. Sappy Holidays IPA is made for folks who love going into the forest (after purchasing the necessary permit) to cut down their own trees. Not only is it hopped with Simcoe, Chinook and Cascade, it’s spruced up, pun intended, with actual hand-cut Grand Fir. Boss Rambler’s also concocted the biggest little beer in Mochalito, an imperial stout modeled after a Mexican mocha that’s been conditioned on cinnamon, cocoa nibs, coffee and vanilla beans, along with pasilla peppers for a kick. The cerveza clambers in at a whopping 15%, which is mitigated by coming in adorable 7-ounce pony bottles a la Modelitos served by the bucketful. Except instead of a bunch, these wax-dipped nip bottles are so finite, : Fewer than 100 patrons will be able to buy one.

This article appears in Source Weekly November 28, 2024.