Welcome to your weekend: Spooky Halloween Edition!



Brought to you by spooky plastic pumpkins with
special guest Saranac Pumpkin Ale.
Also remember to check in today for a special Untappd badge!

Brewing Beer as a Holiday Gift

I know what you are thinking... how can I possibly think about the holidays when it's the beginning of October!? Well, friends, if you want to brew some beer for your friends, you are going to want to start thinking about it. On average, it takes approximately 6 - 8 weeks for a beer to properly ferment, carbonate, and do it's general "beer thing." That means we should start brewing in mid-October to make Christmas.

This year I'm testing out a recipe for a spiced pumpkin ale. I'm starting by making a one gallon batch to test it out. The pumpkin beer recipe is below. It's a simple homebrew recipe, and great holiday beer to share as a beer gift, or just for your own celebrations.


 INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb. 2 Row Malt
• 8 oz. 2 Row Pale Ale
• 8 oz. Crystal 60L

• 0.25 oz Northern Brewer Hops (@45 minutes)
• 0.50 oz Northern Brewer Hops (@5 minutes)

• 1/2 Package of Muntons Dry Yeast

• 2 lbs. Pumpkin (pie pumpkins are preferred, but a regular ole Jack O' Lantern works, too)
• Spices: 2 cinnamon sticks, several whole cloves of garlic, fresh ginger (peel the ginger and slice it), whole all spice, 2 teaspoons dry nutmeg (@30 minutes)
• Place all the spices in a teabag or, as I did, just use a grain bag (since the spices do not go in until after the grains come out, I just dumped the grains from my bag and reused it for the wort) 

DIRECTIONS


To begin this homebrew recipe, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Peel the pumpkin using a pairing knife or vegetable peeler. Cut in half and clean out the guts. Chop roughly into 2 inch squares, place on the lightly greased baking pan, drizzle with oil, and roast until it's fork tender, but not mushy.

While the pumpkin is roasting, heat 3 quarts of water to 170 degrees.

Place the grains and the cooked pumpkin in two separate grain bags. When the water is at 170 degrees steep both together for 45 minutes, keeping the water temp between 145 - 155 degrees. Stir every fifteen minutes.

While grains and pumpkin steeps, heat 1 gallon of water in another pot to 160 degrees. After 45 minutes of steeping, take the grains and pumpkin out of the pot and rinse the grains with the 1 gallon of water (I placed a metal strainer over my pot and used that for sparing).

Boil wort for 45 minutes, adding hops and spices according to schedule above. At this point you can add 3 tablespoons of brown sugar or molasses, but this is entirely optional. I didn't use it this time (and didn't list ingredients above), but have read several recipes that do add sugar during the wort process.

After 45 minutes, take off the heat and cool to 70 - 80 degrees using a ice bath or a wort chiller. Pour cooled wort into a sanitized one gallon jug, adding more water if necessary. Place cap on top and shake to aerate. Take cap off, pitch yeast. Top with water, if necessary, and place stopper with blow off tube at top.

Let ferment for two weeks (don't worry about second fermentation) and bottle. No need to use corn sugar for carbonation, it will be fine as is.

Enjoy, and let us know if you try it at home or have your own recipe!

Prost!



Questions? Comments? Please write below, or contact the author at: sjames@beerfellows.com

Our top 5 best beers of 2011

It is New Years Eve, the last day of 2011. This year has been a lot of things to many people, but for beer drinkers it has been a pretty decent year.  All this week we have been reading the best/ worst articles floating around the news and the internet.  We decided to compile one of our own from the best of category. As stated before in this blog, beer is subjective. Like food, it has memories that go with it and make it special, time and place become important. The beer experience is enhanced by the surroundings, the people, and your state of mind. With that in mind we each tackled the answer slightly differently.  

Brian Smith

Westvleteren beers are considered
some of the best in the world...
we didn't have any of those this year.

The first beer on a long vacation (This time it was an Old Dominion Aviator Amber)

Dark Helmet Schwartzbier at Titletown Brewery in Green Bay, Wisconsin

New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale, now readily available in northern Virginia.

Samuel Adams Winter Lager

Yuengling Traditional Lager, the house beer of the Smiths.

Jessica a.k.a Loverfishy

Red Eye Almost 100% Organic Pumpkin Ale. Pumpkin pie spice and aged over graham crackers (like their holiday ale was too) Pumpkin pie in a glass…I don’t even like pumpkin pie, and I couldn’t get enough

Rogue Juniper Pale Ale – Tastes like a pine tree in a glass according to my dad. To me, an IPA addict, that’s a pretty awesome thing. I discovered it at the Chocolate Moose in Ely, Minnesota of all places.

Lagunitas Maximus IPA – My absolute favorite IPA. Not very common in the upper Midwest, I get a bit excited when I luck out and find it on tap somewhere. Super hoppy, but still balanced, and not as much of a pucker-up aftertaste as the other superhopped IPAs.

Breckenridge Vanilla Porter – Yeah, quite a few places make a vanilla porter, but this was deep, rich, and smooth. One of the best I’ve tried.

I have to give number five a non-beer honorable mention to Stranahan’s Colorado whisky. Went on a distillery tour…cool place, and it’s owned by the guy who founded Flying Dog Brewery. The whisky is superb…buttery and smooth.

Skye Marthaler

New Glarus Stone Soup – This is my favorite beer and anytime I can get back to Wisconsin and find it makes me a happy man. I made it back this last May and brought a case back east with me. I don't know if New Glarus will be producing this in 2012 and if not that really sucks. 

Shmaltz He'brew Jewbelation 15 – A revelation and by far the best holiday beer I had. I recently got a second bottle to age out and I am looking forward to Jewbelation 16. I shared this with my father-in-law over Christmas.

Bruery Coton – Shared this with my best friend Rob back in May. We didn’t know what we had, it was my first Bruery experience, but we enjoyed the hell out that bottle. Maybe I should have aged that bottle but if you can’t share a ridiculously good beer with your best friend then fuck off. Seriously.

Dogfish Head Theobroma – Shared this with my brother Cody and his friend Matt while playing Settlers of Catan in September the night before we went to the Packers - Panthers game in Charolotte. It was delicious and both Cody and I are searching for another bottle of it.

Shiner Ruby Redbird – I drank gallons of this over the summer. I don’t know why it grabbed me like it did, but once it got a hold on me it became my go to summer beer. I still have one bottle left in the fridge that I will break out early next year on a cold winter’s day to remind me that summer does come back.

Honorable Mentions: New Glarus Spotted Cow in the stands at Lambeau Field and the Red Eye Rye Porter at the tailgate earlier that day.  


So there you go, our favorites or "best" beers of 2011. What were yours? Tell us down in the comments!

Three...count' em, 3 reviews of festive beers!

It's the end of the year so to finish out strong we are going all in with a festive triple header. That's right folks. We are bringing you 3 reviews of festive beers to finish out December.

Port City Tidings

I drank this from my new Spiegelau tulip glass from a freshly filled growler (10 minutes from the tap at the brewery to my glass at home.) It poured slightly hazy with a white fluffy head filling the glass with a bright sunny golden color. It is crisp, clean, and mildly sweet on the tongue as you drink it; though the aftertaste has a faint spicy weight to it. I think it is atypical to Belgian style golden ale, but it is delicious.

I have been drinking Tidings over the last week and I have been consistently surprised at how refreshing this beer is. It is not like all the other festive beers I have been drinking at or reviewing. It clocks in with a sly 7.8% ABV but the alcohol is hidden very well. I could easily see myself enjoying this on a hot summer day. I do hope this will be a reoccurring seasonal because I will purchase it without hesitation again.

Full disclosure, I have a bias for Port City Brewing, they are my local, only about a block away from where I hang my hat. I recently started getting growlers filled there, they are wonderful people, and I hope they are successful.

Bridgeport Ebenezer Ale

It poured a bronze color, clear, with a light tannish head that stuck around longer than expected. (It was a hard pour, but worth it for the blast of caramel that filled the air.) I drank this out of a lager glass. It has a smooth, malty taste that stays with you through the drink and into the aftertaste. This is also when the alcohol reveals itself, but it doesn’t stay around long. It comes in a winter sessionable 6.4% ABV.

Overall Ebenezer Ale is an easy to drink beer, not as rich or with as much caramel taste as I expected when poured but definitely enjoyable and a good party companion. You could work through several bottles of this in a row and not get bored.

Samuel Smith Winter Welcome Ale

My first thought when I drank this was, well that is different, particularly from the other two beers that I had reviewed earlier. It poured a clear copper color in the lager glass, the head dissipating quickly. It has a nice carbonation on the tongue and a fair share of hops that stand up as you swallow the ale and mingle with the bitterness in the aftertaste. They are never at the forefront though. This ale is not heavy on the drink. You could easily session this ale, and while lighter than expected, it has a nice body to it for winter drinking. I only had one bottle of the Winter Welcome Ale and this is disappointing because I would like to try a few more to form a more thorough opinion.

Normally I would include the "propaganda" on each beer from the brewery, but this has been long enough. Enjoy the rest of the holiday season and thanks for stopping by! 

Beer Links for Boxing Day!

Folks, it's Boxing Day, so don't get too crazy out there in the weird, weird world of consumerism. Instead, kick back, crack open a tasty one and enjoy the last vestiges of 2011. 

Another great Google image search! Original here.

In the News!

Deputies: Man returned to beer after bank robbery (ABC 7 News-Chicago)
Maybe he needed cash to pay for his pint. I love these types of stories, they make great logic puzzles

New law makes for ‘great day’ for Ohio’s craft-beer breweries, owners says (Youngstown Vindicator)
I do like tasting rooms!
Beer goes highbrow with beer sommeliers (Hindustan Times)
I must admit that this makes me a little bit uneasy. Beer should always be approachable.

Christmas Eve family feud over beer ends with man’s neck severely cut (Sun-Sentinel)
Where do I even start with this one...it’s messed up, but the snark at the end is the ringer.

Local identity infused in Schlafly beer, mission (stltoday.com)
Schlafly makes good beer and it is wonderful to see their success in the shadow of a monolith. I hope the succession plan works and the quality doesn’t diminish.

Beer facts (mid-day.com)
We need all the facts we can get around here.

How about beer? This tells when and how it will flow (Pittsburgh Press)
Let’s step into the way back machine. Fascinating article from the end of the bad old days.

Beer Festival excites Uyo residents (The Nation (Nigeria))
I find the beer culture in Africa fascinating, a lot of it driven by vestiges of colonialism.

Top 10 Buzz Brewers of 2011 (Washington Times)
I would have thought Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery would have been on that list. Otherwise it’s pretty solid...bit of homerism at the end.

CSA study says beer brewers adding jobs faster than other industries in Larimer County, Loveland (Reporter Herald)
Beer will see us through these economic doldrums

Beer Baron: Believe the buzz over big stouts (Wisconsin State Journal)
The great white whales of the beer world. They do exist!

Perfect article end our December news links on. We will be talking about stouts and winter warmers in January and February. (Big beers deserve 2 whole months!)

Site News!

We will closing down the year with a final review of a festive beer yet to be selected and maybe some commentary on the side. We will have a beer roundtable of the best five beers each of us fellows have had this year and I swear Brian will have an edition of “To the Lab.” We hope your holiday season so far has been joyous and festive.

As always you can find us on twitter: @beerfellows
See what we are drinking on Untappd: BeerFellows

Welcome to your weekend - Christmas Day Special Edition!

Brought to you by Christmas tree and presents,
 with special guests: The Bruery's  4 Calling Birds, Port City Brewing's Tidings,
Full Sail Brewing's Wreck the Halls, Inveralmond Brewery's Santa's Swallie,
and Sierra Nevada's 2011 Celebration.

Christmas Holiday PSA - Be safe out there!

Folks, we here at Jolly Good Fellows appreciate a good brew, but during this holiday season, and at all times really, we want people to not only enjoy beer but also be responsible and safe. If you have been drinking don't drive. Turn over your keys to your host, take a cab, or designate a driver. Christmas is so much more merry when we are all there to enjoy it. 

Welcome to Your Weekend - Christmas Eve Edition!



Brought to you by brown Christmas and woodland critters, with
 special guests Red Eye Brewing and Breckenridge Brewery Christmas Ale
 (Photo by Loverfishy)





Wow, just wow...

This is what you
are looking for!

Jewbelation 15 is an excellent beer. It is rich, complex, spicy, and incredibly smooth. This is beer as a port wine. There is so much going on that I would actually prefer this as an digestif after a meal.

It poured an incredibly deep clear bronze with a rich tan head that hung around a lot longer than I expected. I drank this out of a port glass. At first sip you get a mouthful of spice that stays with you throughout the quaff and lingers in the aftertaste. For me it is a very pleasant taste and it leaves a tingle on the sides of the tongue. The beer is a lot smoother than you would expect with a lot of caramel taste. This is a beer that you have to be careful with though, it comes in at a big but devious 15% ABV. The alcohol is masked very well by the smorgasboard of hops and malts.

My only regret is that I did not purchase another bottle to age out. Here is to finding another couple of bottles to store because this beer will get better with age. For me this hits all the marks of an excellent beer. It hits the spot of everything I want in a winter seasonal beer.

Jewbelation is a series that has been going since 2004. Jewbelation 15, a kosher beer brewed by Shmaltz Brewing Company out of Saratoga Springs, New York, celebrates the brewery's 15 years of brewing. I looked for the "propaganda" on the beer but really couldn't find much from the brewery other than the importance of number of 15.

Happy Hanukkah everyone! L'chaim!

Cellaring Beers or the creation of “Skye’s Special Reserve Selection”…in three parts

This last weekend I was sorting through my latest holiday beer purchases deciding which ones would be drunk over the holidays, and which ones were to be shelved away until a future yet to be determined. It dawned on me that I should discuss my cellaring madness. Our wine friends have been doing this for years to great acclaim and success. Guess what, beer can do it to. I’d like to share how I came to this, why I do it now, and how I go about it and what the pros recommend.

Part One: How I arrived at this condition of storing awesome beer in my basement for sustained periods of time

Three things got me into aging beer; one is my never ending desire to try new things, particularly beers. As you may have picked up as a reader of this blog I love beer a lot, it makes me happy and I like to talk about it. At the same time I also have a weird little completionist quirk. I want to try, at least once, every beer I see. This is clearly impossible, but I’m ok with it. I walk into a store, see brews I have never tried and buy them. Sometimes I get multiple different brews. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The second factor frankly is that my spendable income increased over the last decade. More purchasing power lets me buy more beer. Combine that with my little desire to trying everything means that I usually overbuy. It’s incredibly difficult to go into a beer isle and walk out with only one thing. Sometimes the selection available is overwhelming to me. But let us get back on topic, simply put, my supply overruns my demand meaning I have to find homes for the excess.

The third is once again another confession on my part. It involves a bottle of 2001 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine. A decade ago, while living in Stevens Point, I spied a sixer of it in JR’s, my local bottle shop at the time. I jumped right on it and bought it with my usual enthusiasm. It was everything a barleywine should be but I couldn’t stand it. Originally I argued the beer had skunked out, but the truth of the matter was at that time I was not smart enough or experienced enough to enjoy what I was drinking.

This started it (2010 model shown)
Picture by Sierra Nevada

Five of the bottles were drunk. One bottle though, passed notice living on a side shelf in Rob’s fridge for the next eight years. Every so often we would laugh and joke about it being still in there and I would trot out my little heresy on how the batch was skunky. Rob eventually gave the bottle to a good friend of his, Chris, who took it home, cracked it open, drank it, and promptly declared it phenomenal, one of the best things he had ever drank. (Another confession, (You’re getting the two for one special today) I enjoy barleywines now, but I have never went back to the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, someday soon I will have to remedy that.)

When Rob informed me of Chris’ discovery I was a bit shocked, one that the bottle had survived that long in Rob’s fridge, (He was developing and refining his tastes for beer diversity over the years and has an unquenchable thirst) and two what an idiot I was for never taking another chance. Eight years from the time the Bigfoot was unintentionally laid down not only had the beer aged and improved but so had I. Now I was ready for the beer but the beer was gone. Disappointed but not dismayed that experience lent itself to the third factor. I give beer second chances. 

Hanukkah & Beer!

In the spirit of Hanukkah and to tide you over until I finish some beer commentary and the Jewbelation review here is an excellent little article and radio spot on the Jewish brewing community and its history.

Beer links brought to you by Hanukkah!

When you Google Hanukkah
and select the first image it takes you here (SFW)

In the News!

The Festival of Lights starts on Tuesday. To all my Jewish friends and readers I hope you have a very happy holiday season. 

Beer lovers celebrate, it’s National Growler Day! (eatdrinkexplore.com)

How did I miss this?! Well mark your calendars, we are doing something for this next year, Dec 17, 2012.

Top Ten: Craft beer themes of 2011 (Washington Times) Pretty decent list of craft beer themes for this past year, on a serious note it will be interesting to see how they continue to trend. On a not so serious note, Fuck Yeah Beer!

Police Report: Stolen Beer; Thefts From Vehicles (Waukesha Patch) While Waukesha isn’t a small town it still has some small town charm. Odds that the beer stolen at 12:36 AM was Miller Lite? I’ve got three to one.

Now on Tap: Beer Chocolates and Candy Marketed to Men (ABC News) I have a ridiculous sweet tooth so I would be game to try these. I think the best one is the stout caramel bars….holy shit these are expensive! A good sixer of beer or a small bag of candies? I think the decision is pretty self-evident.

Samuel Adams’ Single Batch series:  4 great beers in 22-ounce bottles (The Boston Globe) I spotted two of these today at my local Total Wine, I think I may have to go grab 8 for a special write up (4 to drink, 4 to cellar)

Beer buys bubble over as the mercury rises (Herald Sun) I can’t say I’m too surprised we know our Australian cousins love beer, but I would really like to see the American version of this.

Jingle Beers (London Free Press) A selection of recommendations for across the pond. Anything that mentions Krampus is welcome in these links.

Beer makers wage turfwars over high-end consumers (Business Daily Africa) Someday there will be a craft beer revolution in Africa but right now we have to content ourselves with the premium beers of Heineken and Miller Genuine Draft. Ugh.

Fear the beer bill (Daily Local News) My views on blue laws are pretty simple, get rid of them. I understand the complaints, but it is monopoly breaking in a sense and it brings Pennsylvania in line with a fair portion of the nation. It will be better for consumers and the brewers.

How a Seattle brewery is using solar technology to brew beer (Geekwire) Yay for going green!

Investigation: Pubs underfilling pints of beer (The Mirror)

This is a goddamn atrocity!

On that note here is what will be happening hopefully around the site this week. A small piece on cellaring tomorrow, a review of Jewbelation on Wednesday, and on Thursday you can expect the last minute beer gift guide just in time for last second gift buying this weekend.  

We missed “Welcome to your weekend” this last weekend, but it’ll be back in time for Christmas holiday.

As always you can find us on Twitter at: @beerfellows and you can friend us on Untappd to see what we are drinking also under beerfellows.

If you have thoughts, comments, or recommendations on the blog let us know in the comments. As always thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays! 

Christmas Ale Review Doubleheader!

A couple of days behind, but to make it up it is a Christmas ale doubleheader!

Our two candidates tonight are Our Special Ale 2011 by Anchor Brewing Company and Mad Elf Ale by Tröegs Brewing Company.

The elf has always been
slightly disturbing to me.

The Mad Elf I am reviewing though is slightly different having been aged an additional year. It was originally purchased in a sixer last year at this time. I drank or shared the others, but saved one. Describing Mad Elf to a friend I once called it “Fruitcake in a bottle…but better.” That does fruitcake more justice than it deserves but I think the point still stands. This is a big complex beer with a lot of pieces to it. This bottle has aged well over the last year, becoming rounder, smoother, and the alcohol has better presence, now hovering in the background. Overall it has become better mannered.

As has been the case lately I drank this out of my Hamm’s chalice. It poured with little head and a very nice reddish bronze color. It drank very smoothly with a pleasant aftertaste of honey, a bit of a spice, and just a hint of fruit.

I like this better than the younger version currently in the refrigerator. My gig on the “fresh” stuff is that the alcohol is interruptive. It masks the other ingredients and takes away from the beer. The aged version behaves better and frankly has improved itself.  No matter what version of Mad Elf you find yourself with, be advised that it has a bit of punch coming in at 11% ABV. This year I am saving two bottles, one for next year and one for 2013. I recommend this beer and I always pick up a few sixers every year for the holidays. (Mad Elf is a Book beer and can be found on page 181)

I would marry this beer label
if I could. 

The other selection for the evening couldn’t be more different. It is Our Special Ale 2011 by Anchor Brewing Company also known as “Anchor Christmas Ale.” I bought a sixer of this at my local supermarket just the other day while tracking down selections for reviewing.

This poured nice deep rich brown color, burnt sienna / umber, with a big tan head. The head stayed around for awhile too and the beer laces up the glass as you drink it. I drank this out of a pub glass. The spices are immediately evident on pour and as you bring the glass up to drink. It is a chewy beer and it has a distinct aftertaste that, for me, took awhile to get used to. It is a woody taste that stays with you for a bit.

While dark and laden with spice this was a pleasant change of pace after the Mad Elf and I would drink this during a holiday meal. It comes in at a sessionable 5.5% ABV. It was interesting to find out that Anchor Brewing adjusts the recipe every year on this beer so no two years are the same. (I think that is pretty cool.) Since this is my first year trying it I have no basis of comparison to previous models.

The final line for me on this beer is that I am glad I picked up the sixer, but I won’t get another till next year. If you like dark holiday beers with a big spice kit then you may wish to track this down. (This is also a Book beer and can be found on page 912.)

"Propaganda" on the two selections

Mad Elf

The Mad Elf, a cheerful creation to warm your heart and enlighten your tongue. The combination of Cherries, Honey, and Chocolate Malts delivers gentle fruits and subtle spices. Fermented and aged with a unique yeast, this ruby red beer has significant warming strength that underlies the pleasant character of this intriguing yet delicious Ale. The Mad Elf, a jolly and delicious beer for the Holidays.

Anchor Christmas Ale

Each year since 1975, Anchor Brewing creates a distinctive Christmas Ale, available from early November to mid-January. A rich, dark spiced ale, our secret recipe is different every year—as is the tree on the label—but the intent remains the same: joy and celebration of the newness of life.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...for festive beer!

It’s December and that means the holidays are upon us in full force.  In addition to regular beer reviews, like the excellent brews Jeremy is drinking and recommending, we will also focusing on the Festive beers and ales of the season. Don’t worry about us skipping out on winter warmers though, we have the bitterness of January and February to look forward to try those out. Instead we are focusing on holiday centric brews, whether it is Solstice, Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa or Festivus. So enjoy the season with us.

We are going to lead off with Starr Hill Brewery's The Gift Winterbock lager 

I really liked the
label on this beer. 

Once again I drank this out of my Hamm's Chalice, there wasn't much head when poured and what was there dissipated quickly (This is a reoccurring theme with me so don't blame the beer, blame the pourer.) It has a nice cloudy amber look. Malty finish with a hint of alcohol. Very little alcohol taste in general for this beer, I have a feeling that this would easily sneak up on you after a few. It clocks in at 6.5% ABV.  

It drank very smoothly from start to finish, but there isn't a whole lot of body to it. It is labeled as a Winter Bock Lager, in general I expect more from a bock, but you could also interpret this as a hybrid of a bock and a lager. If that is the case then it meets the refreshing nature of a lager with the maltiness of a bock, but I still walk away from this beer thinking something is missing. It can't make up its mind on what it wants to be. 

Starr Hill is one of the breweries that is an old U2 song. (Bad joke, sorry) I want to like their beer because they are a regional Virginia brewery but I have yet to find one that hits all the bells and whistles for me. The Gift is a solid beer and you could show up with it at a holiday gathering and not be looked down on. I would recommend trying it, but I don't see it becoming a perennial favorite for me.  

Here is the "propaganda" from the Brewery.

"A German-style Hellerbock with a few twists, The Gift is Starr Hill’s holiday offering. The beautiful golden color only hints at the fire inside. Made with two-row and Munich malts and balanced with German noble hops, The Gift is the perfect accompaniment to any holiday event or festivity."


Thanks for stopping by! 

Welcome to Your Weekend (Christmas Lights edition)

Brought to you Christmas lights, step ladder, extensions cords and Christmas wreath
With special guests Starr Hill's The Gift and St. George  Brewing Company's Winter Scotch Ale, 

The 1st Annual Jolly Good Fellows Gift Guide

Once again, first image Google shows
when you type beer gifts. I have to stop doing that.
The above is an option but you can do better.

Welcome to December, the month where we give presents to people, some of whom we actually like.  We proudly present to you the JGF 1^st annual beer lovers gift guide. So you have a beer lover in your ranks and you need to get them something. You could go the easy route and just pick up a sixer, or bomber of their favorite beer,  you could also do this, or you could do that AND add something special to the mix. 

Below are several suggestions from myself, Rudy and Brian on more good beer related gifts.

While receiving beer is nice the extra bits are appreciated. You may wish to get them something extra from their favorite brewery, apparel, coasters, etc. (I think I may need this Lagunitas butterfly opener.) A quick Google search can set you on your way. 

If your up and coming beer aficionado is just getting into beer then some glassware may well be the ticket. I have asked for these Spiegelau glasses. If they prefer a certain style of beer or brewery then get them the corresponding glassware. Along with those a beer tasting kit might come in handy. Here’s one example, here is another. If they have a nostalgia bent you can find some excellent breweriana, here were a few interesting things recently spotted on eBay as examples.

In our effort to improve literacy and thereby gain more readers to Jolly Good Fellows, here are several books to help them through the winter months. (We recommend stouts and strong ales to go with winter reading)

• The Oxford Companion to Beer (You can get this on sale right now!) 
• 1001 Beers You Must Taste Before You Die (The book that led to the creation of this site)
• The Complete Joy of Home Brewing

Need something to hang on the wall and fill in some space? Pop Chart Lab’s poster, The Very Many Varieties of Beer Poster may well fit the bill. 

Plan for a day trip with a  tour and tasting session to your beer drinkers favorite brewery. Here is the one for St. Arnold Brewery as an example. Want to go bigger? There are many excellent beer festivals around the North America and worth attending, but there is only one Great American Beer Festival. But you say you want to go bigger?! Well then it is Belgium tour time. A true mecca for beer connoisseurs around the world. 

Sarah, who runs the excellent site Beer Meets Cheese, is running a month long gift guide. We recommend heading over there to check out her recommendations too!

In the end if all else fails there are gift certificates. Believe it or not this is actually a pretty solid choice. One of the things I enjoy most as a beer drinker is being in the store, looking at the selections, and picking out new things to try. It is even better if what I want to purchase is already paid for.  

Thanks for stopping by!