Guest Post!

Sheila Bird, Boxing Rock Brewing

Beer pairing is part art, part science and a whole lot of fun! Typically beer pairing involves beer paired with food, sometimes beer paired with people (you know a funky farmhouse Brett paired with your hippie Icelandic goat farmer cousin or a light lagered ale paired with your football tossing or hockey playing bro-in-law or a tart sour for your ex-beauty queen aunt...you get the point), or beer is also often paired with activities.

Well, this holiday season we’ve decided to pair a beer with all of your favourite holiday ‘moments’. So, part art, part science and a whole lot of fun here are our 12 beers of Christmas paired perfectly with your favourite holiday moments.

1. Trimming the tree beer – Tatamagouche’s North Shore Lagered Ale - A nice refreshing, crisp in-between (an ale and a lager) beer with hints of both ale (light spice and citrus) and lager (bready) flavours, this beer is a perfect starting off place as you trim your tree and sing your favourite holiday tunes.

2. Christmas eve afternoon home from last-minute shopping – Propeller’s NZ Pils – Needing something super refreshing and thirst-quenching after your last-minute power shopping trip try this fun pilsner featuring hops from New Zealand which means lots of fresh citrus!

3. Christmas Eve – Boxing Rock’s Wild Axe Pilsener - A sipping session beer (a complete juxtaposition?!) that adds a bit of spice, and has the classic Bohemian Pilsner crispness that refreshes and pairs well with balancing time in front of the fire and running around getting the last-minute Christmas stuff done.

4. Christmas beer for Santa – Garrison’s Wintervention Imperial Stout – Santa is a hard-working man; he deserves something that’ll warm him up and keep him going. This strong stout will do the trick, and it pairs so well with cookies!

5. Midnight Christmas Eve wrapping presents – Big Spruce’s Cereal Killer Oatmeal Stout – Now it’s your turn for something dark, strong and rich (that also pairs nicely with cookies!) as you feverishly wrap those last presents!

6. Christmas morning(ish) opening presents – Roof Hound Operation Mongoose Mojito Kettle Sour OR Roof Hound Phoenix Burnt Orange Stout – This is a hard one, but Roof Hound just happens to have two different, yet great “morning” beers (not that we are condoning drinking before noon) if you want mint, lime, tart and refreshing the Mojito Kettle Sour is super delicious. If you prefer a dry, roasty beer full of orange and coffee notes go for the Burnt Orange Stout.

7. Christmas brunch/lunch – Good Robot El Espinazo Del Diablo – Add a nice spiciness to your holiday brunch! This light, refreshing lager is flavoured with lime zest and jalapenos; perfect with eggs of any kind!

8. Christmas post-nap/post-hike – Trider’s Mean Joe Bean Coffee Blonde – Regardless of whether you and your family are the ‘nap-type or hiking type’ post-Christmas brunch this blonde ale will refresh and delight. Light, crisp and refreshing this blonde explodes with coffee flavour!

9. Christmas cooking/in the kitchen – Trider’s Rod’s Red - A session red ale, but with spice and a smooth caramel backbone, that adds nice flavours to your cooking! Add to your gravy, your sauce, your cookies, even to your mashed potatoes (a little for you, a little for your cooking!)

10. Christmas avoiding your family/meltdown –Boxing Rock’s The Vicars Cross Double IPA – Yes, it happens to the best of us; that time during the holidays where you maybe feel like crying, laughing and screaming all at the same time. For that moment, when you escape to your “happy place” bring this nice, strong, balanced sipping beer along with you; we promise it’ll do the trick!

11. Christmas movie watching (anything from Die Hard to The Christmas Carol to It’s a Wonderful Life) – Propeller Galaxy IPA – Something fun, fruity, juicy and delicious for your holiday movie session. A bit like a nice fruity dessert this IPA offers pineapple, peach, citrus, tangerine and mango notes; perfect with a slice of fruitcake, or a big bowl of popcorn and your favourite holiday movie!

12. Boxing day – Boxing Rock’s Fisticuffs Barrel-Aged Brett Saison – the ‘day after’ deserves a special beer! This beautifully barrel-aged Brett Saison is a fine sipping beer, offering smooth and delicious characteristics of oak and stone fruit.

Purposely leaving the ‘big’ moment out (Christmas dinner) we think there’s just too many perfect Christmas dinner beer pairings to choose just one! Cheers to the perfect holiday season full of perfect holiday moments!

- Sheila Bird is a beer sommelier who loves to celebrate local food and drink wherever she travels!  She loves to create perfect, engaging local food and drink adventures, and especially looks forward to her beer pairings during the holidays with her family in front of the fire in her 100-year old house on the ocean on the South Shore of Nova Scotia.