Beery Christmas (and other holidays)!

It’s that time of year again: time for some of your favorite local breweries to release their holiday quaffs — and whether you’re looking for pronounced pine notes or something dark and heavy to get you through a long, cold wintery night, there’s a seasonal San Diego beer for you. Of course, this being San Diego, there’s no shortage of holiday themed IPAs to go around; and if the beers themselves aren’t enough, there’s also plenty of festive packaging.

For the third year, Second Chance Brewing has released its popular Frosty the Hazeman. As Second Chance co-founder Virginia Morrison jokes, the festive beer “tastes of (Christmas) pine, (sugar) plums, and fig(gy pudding).” The 7% ABV hazy IPA also features some resinous tropical fruit notes, courtesy of Mosaic, Citra, and Ekuanot cryo hops. Fans of Second Chance’s other limited-release hazy IPAs such as Buried in the Haze and Disco Balloon will find the beer familiar but more complex, with pronounced flavors and a richer aroma brought about through the dry-hopping process.

Burgeon and Pure Project have teamed up for the fifth year in a row to release Home for the Holihaze, and 8.8% ABV murky IPA featuring Citra, Citra Cryo, Riwaka, and Strata Hops. Pure Project’s Winslow Sawyer explains, “Home for the Holihaze is a celebration of our favorite hops of the year. This makes each year’s release unique because, as an agricultural product, the beer will have nuanced differences from its hop varietals.” Strong citrus notes of orange and lemon combine with an aroma of passion fruit to deliver an experience somewhere between a fruit cake and the ubiquitous hazy IPAs found at tasting rooms throughout the county.

Duck Foot Brewing brought back its Deck the Hops Double IPA, which has the strongest pine notes of this holiday bunch, courtesy of the addition of fresh spruce tips during brewing. Getting in the spirit of things, Duckfoot’s Kenna Quiroga describes a hop profile of “Citrusy Citra hops [that] keep spirits bright, while Chinook hops marry it all together with fa-la-la-floral notes.” With a hint of rosemary added for extra spice, to really bring home the experience of sipping a Christmas tree forest.

Lastly, no San Diego holiday season roundup would be complete without Port Brewing releasing Santa’s Little Helper. The popular Russian Imperial Stout pours dark and syrupy with a tan head and comes in at 9.5%. Co-founder Tomme Arthur explains, “We have been making Port Brewing Santa’s Little Helper here in San Marcos since 2006. The base recipe has remained the same since we started. A couple years back, we began the process of adjuncting and iterizing some versions, as we landed a set of cases in a large box store that rhymes with Mostco.” Santa’s Little Helper now comes in three versions: the original, featuring malty notes of roasted coffee and dark chocolate; one with hazelnut adjuncts; and one with vanilla cacao. Unfortunately, it has been several years since Port has released a barrel aged version, but one can always put it on a Christmas list and hope Santa gets the message.