Day 24: Troegs Independent Brewing Mad Elf

Why We Picked It: Mad Elf is probably the most common member in the history of 24DOB. Also, it's always double digital ABV and can really bring some holiday cheer to Christmas Eve festivities.

What Troegs Says About It: "The holidays at Tröegs start with our inner Mad Elf momentarily taking over the brew deck. So blame “him” for this cheerful ruby red creation reminiscent of ripened cherries, raw honey and cocoa with notes of cinnamon, clove and allspice. We taste: chocolate malt, cherries, honey, peppercorn."

ABV: 11%

IBU: 15

Fun Facts: I shared this story from BillyPenn in past years, but it is an origin story worth repeating:

"The story begins in Harrisburg, where John and Chris Trogner were presiding over Troegs, then a small brewery that had been open for just six years. They were putting together variety packs for Christmas, not exactly a fun process. It involved them placing different beers into six packs, one-by-one, and the tedium boiled over into what John Trogner describes as “delirium.”

At some point, a delivery truck came with some extra wine barrels. In their delirious state, making a holiday beer and putting it into a wine barrel sounded like a good idea. They discussed cherries and honey for flavor and because it was the holidays the brothers figured “it sure would be nice to have 11 percent beer to go along with friends and family.”

The original recipe for Mad Elf was born. After speaking with a couple of local breweries who expressed interest, the Trogners decided to make a batch of 20 to 30 kegs. But they’d never made a beer as strong as Mad Elf. Their closest was the Troegenator, at 8 percent. They combined cherries, malt and yeast the best way they knew how and let it sit.  

Three days or so later, they were giving a tour of the brewery when John Trogner recalls the intense aroma of honey and cherries. The Troegs brewery did not normally smell of honey and cherries. So they went to check: Turned out the yeast had foamed about three times more than an average beer, and their concoction exploded through the top of the fermenter tank. “It was all over the ground,” Trogner says. “A sea of froth, like 20 feet. It frothed out so much.”

They lost about half the batch. The other half didn’t explode onto a floor, but it went nearly as quickly at local bars. Mad Elf was an immediate success. The name came from Trogner’s brother-in-law during a drunken brainstorming session, and a local Harrisburg artist sketched the image of the elf. 

Day 23: Anchor Steam Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Why We Picked It: Another regular member of 24DOB and a forefather of microbrews and holiday microbrews. Also, each year, the recipe changes just a bit.

What Anchor Steam Says About It: "Slightly darker than last year’s Christmas Ale, the 2019 edition is layered with toasted caramel and coffee flavors with subtle hints of Mexican chocolate, rounded out with herbaceous spices. Crack open a bottle for a spiced whiff of western evergreens, roasted malts, and coastal flowers. It’s a rich, round and full bodied-treat with a silky, smooth finish. As each Christmas Ale recipe evolves, so does its hand-drawn packaging, created by long-time Anchor Illustrator Jim Stitt, who has created Anchor’s Christmas Ale labels every year since 1975. Since ancient times, trees have symbolized the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons, appears born anew. This year, Stitt illustrated the Western Arborvitae – the “tree of life” – across the label. It is an evergreen conifer native to Northern California, the same region that Anchor has called home for over 123 years. Before modern medicine, properties of Western Arborvitae leaves were believed to have healing properties – hence, the moniker “tree of life.” 2019 Anchor Christmas Ale proudly wears this tree and symbolizes the start of a strong, healthy beginning."

ABV: 6.9%

IBU: 40

Fun Facts: "Our annual Christmas Ale is a subtly spiced and sumptuously smooth winter warmer. This year’s brew marks the 45th annual release of this Anchor holiday tradition. Back in 1975, Anchor released the first holiday beer in America since Prohibition. Year after year, Anchor creates a new, secret recipe with a unique hand drawn label for their Christmas Ale, but the intent with each brew remains the same: joy for the changing seasons and celebration of the newness of life. With a heavily guarded, confidential recipe, Christmas Ale is sold only from early November to mid-January. This highly anticipated seasonal delight is complex and full in flavor, packed with toasty cocoa notes, roasted malts and strong aromas of resinous pine."

Fun Facts: 

Day 22: Spoetzel Brewery Shiner Holiday Cheer

Why We Picked It: Another holiday brew from a known independent.

What Spoetzel Says About It: "Holiday traditions come in all shapes and sizes. Shiner’s comes in freshly wrapped bottles. This old-world dunkelweizen is brewed with Texas peaches and roasted pecans – perfect for cracking open in front of a crackling fire." 

ABV: 5.4%


 IBU: 22


Fun Facts: Shiner offers its own holiday playlist on its website to accompany this beer.  And you can find it on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7aWJ1YUsa89hX5wdsJaw1W

As an Austin-based brewery, it has both kinds of music: Country and Western. Most importantly, it includes the lovely holiday classic, "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."

Day 21: Avery Brewing Sweater Party

Why We Picked It: I love me a high ABV winter warmer.

What Avery Says About It: "Sweater Party warms from the inside out with specialty malts and mulling spices, including cinnamon, orange peel, allspice, cloves, and ginger."

ABV: 8%

IBU: N/A


Fun Facts:  So I was curious who to blame for the whole ugly sweater thing. Apparently, Canadians have something to do with it:

Day 20: Blue Point Brewery Winter Ale

Why We Picked It: A winter ale that was a bit different from the others.

What Blue Point Says About It: "Our Winter Ale is a hearty, robust amber ale. We use pale, Vienna, crystal and chocolate malts to create a balanced character of malt and hops with just the right amount of heat to warm you up during the colder months."

ABV: 7.7%

IBU: 30

FUN FACT: This is the brewery's self description:

"Where we’re from, the people are a different breed. New Yorkers want more than the status quo, they want you to skip the bullshit and give it to them straight. Yeah, we’ve got humble beginnings, but that’s just who we are. Hell, our founders tapped Blue Point’s very first keg in a parking lot.

At Blue Point, we brew beer that stands up to New York's standards. We know it’s good, they know it’s good, and if someone disagrees, fuck ‘em. We first and foremost brew beer that we want to drink. If there’s some leftover, we’ll sell it."

A nice job reinforcing the idea of obnoxious NYers and Long Islanders. Way to own it, I guess.

Day 19: Oskar Blues Brewery Old Chub

Why We Picked It: Old shool with Old Chub.

What Oskar Blues Says About It: "Old Chub is a brobdingnagian celebration of aggressively shattering the status quo. This jaw-dropping Scottish strong ale (8% ABV, 30 IBUs) strays far from conventions, as it’s brewed with a recklessly bodacious amount of malted barley and specialty grains, and a dash of beechwood-smoked malt. It features semi-sweet flavors of cocoa and coffee, and a wee bit of smoke. It’s a powerful, head-turning trip for malt heads and folks who think they don’t dig dark beer."

ABV: 8%

 IBU: 25

Fun Facts: "In 2002, in the funky little town of Lyons, Colorado, we shattered craft beer convention by stuffing our voluminously hopped mutha of a brew, Dale’s Pale Ale, into a portable, crushable, infinitely recyclable can. Craft beer in a can stays fresher for longer, and it’s easy to pack in (and pack out) on any soul-saving adventure. We now operate breweries in Colorado, North Carolina and Texas to provide craft beer in a can to all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and 17 other countries."

Day 18: Devil's Backbone Danzig

Why We Picked It: A localish beer with a cool name for a porter (didn't realize until later its an A-B property... see below). Side note: I couldn't find new label in good resolution, but liked the old style one above. So I went with it.

What Devli's Backbone Says About It: "Danzig, which we named after a Baltic Sea town, isn’t for the faint of heart… or mouth. It’s a well-balanced, full-bodied blend of a strong English porter and a Germanic black lager, making it smooth with a sneaky high ABV. The intense mix of malts and hops provides flavors of chocolate, coffee, and caramelized sugar. No wonder it won Bronze at the World Beer Cup 2018. It’s full-on! Hence the lightning bolt on the pack."

ABV: 8%

IBU: 28

Fun Facts: "The story about Devils Backbone Brewing Company goes like this. Years ago, our founders, Steve and Heidi Crandall, were on a ski trip in the Alps when they tried their first craft beer, a German Weisse at a brewpub. So to satisfy their thirst for a local haunt that served craft European-style beers, they started a whole brewery complete with a full-on brewpub for locals and visitors. It became a  place where folks could drink and tell stories about their time on the trail or ski slope, or all of the above. They named it Devils Backbone, the same name some brave surveyors, including Thomas Jefferson’s dad, Peter, called this hard-to-summit mountain region almost 300 years ago. Kinda poetic, right?

In 2016 Devils Backbone Brewing Company was acquired by Anheuser-Busch. Since then, we’ve continued to brew award-winning beers that we’re proud of, as well as share our beers with more beer friends than ever before!"

Day 17: DC Brau Penn Quarter Porter With Coffee

Why We Picked It: McNary got excited about this one.  Hard to blame him.

What DC Brau Says About It: Nothing on the website, but got this off Untappd: "This collaboration with friends and local coffee roasters, Vigilante Coffee Company, started with the search for the perfect roast to compliment Penn Quarter Porter. Vigilante’s El Lovo coffee brings notes of maple and dark fruit to compliment the roast, dark cocoa, and espresso notes in our robust porter, while adding a velvety and creamy finish."

ABV: 5.5%

 IBU: N/A

Fun Facts:About the original PQ Porter: "Penn Quarter Porter was our first in a line of draft and 22oz bomber limited-release beers, and it’s a robust porter! In the way that The Public™ is on the line between a pale ale and an IPA, this warming brew tiptoes the line between a porter and a stout – perfect for the cooler months in DC."

Day 16: Tröegs Blizzard of Hops

Why We Picked It: Another regular member of the 24DOB.

What Troegs Says About It: "We created this Winter IPA to toast hop growers around the world for another successful harvest. This storm of hoppy citrus and pine notes is a bright reminder the end of the Hop Cycle is only the beginning.
We taste: spruce tips, pineapple, orange rind."

ABV: 6.4%

 IBU: 80

Fun Facts: Troegs was voted the 4th best brewery tour by USA Today. Behind New Belgium, Bell's, Boulevard and just ahead of Dogfish. It's a short drive to Lancaster, to thise interested. local Alexandria-based Port City made a strong showing in seventh.

Day 15: Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

Why We Picked It: Because it would not be 24 Days of Beer without Celebration.

What Sierra Nevada Says About It: "The start of Celebration season is a festive event. Once the first fresh hops arrive from harvest, the party begins! We first brewed Celebration in 1981, blazing the path for American-style IPAs and offering a new take on holiday beers, which are often spiced and sweet. Famous for its citrus and pine aromas, Celebration is bold and intense, featuring Cascade, Centennial and Chinook hops—honoring everything we have at Sierra Nevada."

ABV: 6.8%

 IBU: 65

Fun Facts: The first batch brewed on premises was its Pale Ale, in November 1980. The following year, the brewery introduced Celebration, an IPA, which it continues to release as a winter seasonal. The company sold 950 US beer barrels of beer in its first year. The brewery produced 786,000 US bbl in 2010, and as of 2016, Sierra Nevada Brewing is the seventh-largest brewing company in the U.S.

Day 14: Stone Brewing Stone Ghost Hammer IPA

Why We Picked It: A IPA by Stone we hadn't had yet. It must be had.

What Stone About It: "A fermenting beer never slumbers. Consequently, there is always scattered activity tending our precious beers throughout the dark hours. In these late nights and wee hours that hallowed responsibility falls to the shoulders of the overnight Brew Crew. These brewing soloists brave the long nights, often alone, to do what needs to be done. Most areas of the brewery are dark or in shadows. Throughout the night the cellars resonate with the occasional knocking of expanding and contracting pipes. It can be a bit spooky to hear the brewery creak and groan as if possessed by a spirit randomly knocking about with a mallet. This IPA, liberally hopped with Loral™, honors our intrepid overnight team by naming it after their mischievous poltergeist companion – the Ghost Hammer." (Note: I love this description, even if it gives you no idea what it taste like."

ABV: 6.7%

 IBU: 56

Fun Facts: Stone Brewing famously open the award-winning The Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens in Berlin, challenging the German concept of beer. It was an amazing concept... unfortunately, it didn't work. In April, Stone sold the facility to Scotland-based Brewdog. I guess the Germans just aren't ready for the American microbrew movement.

“Awards and accolades are awesome and humbling. Unfortunately they aren’t enough. To feed a beast like Berlin, we needed volume,” the entry read. “The sheer cost of building and maintaining Stone Berlin to our standards didn’t let us grow it slowly. Sometimes you gotta realize when your dream is becoming a threat to your greater good,” said Executive Chairman Greg Koch

Day 13: Boulevard Brewing Steep Drop

Why We Picked It: I'm personally a fan of Kansas City-based Boulevard. Plus we wanted another stout. 

What Boulevard Says About It:  "Crafted to showcase custom-roasted beans from Kansas City's Second Best Coffee, this smooth, creamy nitro milk stout blooms with notes of honey, molasses, citrus and cocoa powder. A mild nuttiness is accentuated by caramel and chocolate malts, with a touch of flaked oats."

ABV: 5.2%

 IBU: 23

Fun Facts: Boulevard Brewing Company announced a partnership with 20th Century Fox and its highly anticipated film Dark Phoenix, marking the studio’s first collaboration with a craft brewer. Boulevard’s latest year-round beer, Space Camper Cosmic IPA, will get a new X-Men inspired look and blockbuster perks to celebrate the new release in theaters June 7. SpaceCamper’s new limited-edition packaging features a Dark Phoenix icon floating over a prominent “X” with the beer’s orange, grey, white and black branding. In addition to the original six-packs of 12oz cans, Space Camper will be available in single-serve 16oz cans, primarily for venues and events.

Day 12: Flying Dog Me Llamo Mole

Why We Picked It: Another local, another Flying Dog and time for a stout.

What Flying Dog Says About It: "With an average recipe calling for over 20 different ingredients, Mole poblano is one of the most complex sauces in all of Mexican cuisine. So, of course, our ever-ambitious quality assurance manager, Emily Bobotas, pitched a mole stout at our annual brewery retreat. She said she stole the recipe from an old woman living alone in the Mexican desert, and even though we're not sure how legal that is, it was too good to pass up. Chocolate, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, ancho chilies and chipotle peppers provide a warm, savory spiciness which gives Me Llamo’s its deep, dark chocolate backbone and subtle bite. The result is a nuanced, slightly-sweet masterpiece that pairs perfectly with enchiladas, crispy Chile relleno, or a tub of grocery store ice cream that you eat with a fork because all your spoons are in the dishwasher."

ABV: 7 %

 IBU: 25

Fun Facts: This is a relatively new beer, just released by Flying Dog in October. At the release party, drinkers got one Taco Bell taco with each, plus unlimited hot sauce packets!

Day 11: Jailbreak The White Russian

Why We Picked It: Because the Dude abides.

What Jailbreak Says About It: "Light in color yet full in flavor. An appropriate marriage of golden malts and perfectly roasted coffee from our friends at Ceremony Roasters. A hint of vanilla is added to recreate a White Russian worthy of The Dude’s respect. Jailbreak abides!" 

ABV:  5.5%

 IBU: 13 

Fun Facts: Per the brewery, "Jailbreak is a freedom expression. Beginning in 2013, and becoming fully operational in 2014, our artfully crafted beer is meant to be an escape from whatever drama is present in your life. We are made up of professionals from various industries, all brought together by the common desire to make something different and do something with our lives that has more purpose."

They also really like The Big Lebowski and have large mural of the Dude on one of the walls. 

Day 10: Jailbreak Over the Line

Why We Picked It: A local DIPA that none of us had before.

What Jailbreak Says About It: "Due to the unique YCH® Veteran’s hop blend, Over the Line runs the entire contemporary hop flavor continuum, from lemon/lime citrus, to overripe pineapple, to herbal grassy undertones, and beyond. Buoyed by substantial amounts of malted wheat and flaked oats in addition to soft water, Over the Line possesses a luxuriously soft, yet ultimately dry texture. Cheers to all of those that have served our country, thank you."

ABV: 8.2%

 IBU:  N/A

Fun Facts: Just released last month in honor's of Veteran's Day and in partnership with AMVETS, a nonprofit headquartered in Lanham, that strives to improve the quality of life for vets, their families, and their communities through leadership, advocacy, and services. A dollar of every Over the Line! pint purchased will benefit this organization.

Day 9: Heavy Seas Night Swell

Why We Picked It: We always look for unique and local. Heavy Seas' Dark IPA fits the bill.

What Heavy Seas Says About It: "Night Swell's arctic winds and northern tides make their way south, a darkness descends upon the Atlantic, and even the most hardened hop heads feel the pull of the darkness. Night Swell's nor'easter blast of hoppy aromas combines with a warming dark roast and rich malt sweetness for a full-flavored, full-bodied IPA that stretches the boundaries of the style. Surrender to the darkness and ride the swell." [Commentary: Best brewery scription yet!]

ABV: 7.7%

IBU: 71

Fun Facts: Under the name Clipper City Brewing, Heavy Seas started in 1994, making it one of the true founders of the microbrew movement. As the story from Heavy Seas goes: "Our quest for great beer can lead anywhere, from corner pubs to faraway breweries. For Heavy Seas founder, Hugh Sisson, beer altered the trajectory of his life. In 1980, intending to become a stage actor and director, Hugh's plan was to move to NYC after completing his course work for a masters degree in theater. Hugh's father, Albert, a Baltimore area businessman, persuaded him instead to come "help" at a newly opened family business, a tavern called Sisson's. When Hugh showed up to start what he assumed would be a short-term position, his father tossed him the keys to the pub, said "OK, don't f*** up!" and walked out the door."