Oh, you're just cracking open your Southern Tier Pumking? Brace yourself.
Great Lakes Christmas ale, a seasonally released beer brewed with honey, ginger and cinnamon, already has hit Chicago. Big Onion Tavern Group (Woodie's Flat, Fatpour, The Diag, Derby and others) hosts a tapping party tonight at Fatpour, then offers $5 pints of Christmas ale at its locations through November.
Is this the beer version of Starbucks' red holiday cups?
Seasonal beer releases-whether they're Oktoberfest lagers or pumpkin beers or holiday ales-seem to arrive way ahead of what Mother Nature dictates. For some, this means more time to drink the beers they love. Totally fine. For others, though, it's gone too far.
Two years ago, Chicago beer writers Guys Drinking Beer launched a campaign they dubbed Fall Beer Freedom Day, urging people to abstain from drinking their fall seasonals until the day after Labor Day. This year, they sounded the cry again when some stores rolled out Southern Tier Pumking as early as June.
So, do we need a Winter Beer Freedom Day campaign, or does all this seasonal skepticism just sound Grinchy?
kbernot@tribune.com @redeyeeatdrink
Great Lakes Christmas ale, a seasonally released beer brewed with honey, ginger and cinnamon, already has hit Chicago. Big Onion Tavern Group (Woodie's Flat, Fatpour, The Diag, Derby and others) hosts a tapping party tonight at Fatpour, then offers $5 pints of Christmas ale at its locations through November.
Is this the beer version of Starbucks' red holiday cups?
Seasonal beer releases-whether they're Oktoberfest lagers or pumpkin beers or holiday ales-seem to arrive way ahead of what Mother Nature dictates. For some, this means more time to drink the beers they love. Totally fine. For others, though, it's gone too far.
Two years ago, Chicago beer writers Guys Drinking Beer launched a campaign they dubbed Fall Beer Freedom Day, urging people to abstain from drinking their fall seasonals until the day after Labor Day. This year, they sounded the cry again when some stores rolled out Southern Tier Pumking as early as June.
So, do we need a Winter Beer Freedom Day campaign, or does all this seasonal skepticism just sound Grinchy?
kbernot@tribune.com @redeyeeatdrink
