Staff Blog
THE MEAL TICKET INTERVIEW: Joe Sixpack on Christmas Beers
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| Stocking-stuffer sized! |
Don Russell writes a weekly beer column for the Daily News as Joe Sixpack, an inveterate beer drinker and promoter of craft brewing and culture. His latest book, Wishing you a Merry Christmas Beer: The Cheeriest, Tastiest and Most Unusual Holiday Brews (Universe), explores the world of celebration beers and the history of drinking strong, spiced ales around the holidays.
Meal Ticket: Why should a non-beer drinker pick up your Christmas beer book?
Don Russell: I hope that non-beer drinkers could pick up this book — especially wine drinkers. There are a number of beers that I can point you to that wine drinkers will really enjoy. Troegs Mad Elf tastes more like wine than any other beer; its fruity, complex character is something any wine drinker can taste that and think it’s the most marvelous stuff out there. Samiclaus is so different — it’s like drinking a brandy, almost.
The variety of Christmas beers is what I love. They are multi-dimensional in terms of character. I am also a big softie … I love Christmas. There is a lot in the book about the traditions of Christmas, even a whole chapter on Santa Claus!
MT: Though you state in your book that “Christmas beer” is not a certain style, many of these brews contain mace, allspice, grains of paradise and the like. What is the connection?
DR: Not all of them have spice, but a large number do. There are two parts to that tradition: Beer was often spiced with many different ingredients, because it was a long while before brewers settled on hops as the main bittering agent in beer, in the 1500s. Before that, brewers used anything they could get their hands on to bitter and preserve their beers.
The second part is the Christmas tradition of wassailing, which began in the 1600s and continued on into the 20th century. Wassail is a strong British ale spiced with sugar and nutmeg, served out of a bowl to people who went door to door visiting, bringing their own cups. The tradition of caroling comes from wassailing, and the style of wassail is the root of these spiced beers. There are also different offshoots — Norwegian beers made with spruce instead of hops, for example. That is what is going on with Anchor “Our Special Ale,” which they flavor with spruce or some other evergreen, changing the recipe every year. That is really the prototypical American Christmas beer.
MT: What is your number one favorite holiday beer?
DR: My personal favorites are listed as the top 50 beers [in the book]. I’d be the first to say it could change from year to year, because recipes change and my taste changes. I just consider these to be the best. The best-known beers are very popular for a reason. Troegs Mad Elf is number one, and a good section of the country won’t be able to get that beer, but I put regional beers like that in because the nature of Christmas beer is collectability — beer people make a special effort to get these beers. If you are living on the West Coast, you should make an effort to get this really special beer. People who travel abroad at Christmas should try and pick up beers not available in the U.S. I used to buy a case of Affligem Noel and lay down half of them for the next year. Corsendonk Christmas has supplanted that for me — I really enjoy that one quite a bit. It’s expensive, so but so complex and richly full of flavor.
MT: Where are the best places to acquire holiday beers in our region?
DR: The motivation of this book was to lay out for people the variety of Christmas beers, and use it like a hunting guide. Most of these beers are available in the Philadelphia area — we are lucky to have the selection. [Ed: See below for Russell's list of non-Foodery spots to pick up unusual or limited Christmas edition beers.] When you go to other states, you get a different selection, because they have some beers that aren’t registered in PA.
Heads up for holiday brews:
Capone’s. Capone’s is not big, but the variety is almost up there with the Foodery, and they have some beer you can’t get at the Foodery. This is attached to an Italian restaurant on Germantown Ave., and is listed as Norristown, but is really in West Norriton Township. (224 W. Germantown Pike, Norristown, Pa., 610-279-4748)
State Line Liquors. Very convenient to 95 South, just off the Elkton exit in Maryland, and very good with the Belgians. (1610 Elkton Rd., Elkton, Md., 800-446-9463)
Monster Beverage. In Glassboro, N.J. Exceptional choices. (1299 Delsea Drive, Glassboro, N.J., 856-881-0458)
Total Wine. Nothing like the Foodery, but a good selection. (699 Naamans Road, Claymont, Del., 302-792-1322)
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