As winter nears, so do seasonal brews
Here’s what to expect this year as new beers roll in
Winter is coming, which means winter beers are already on store shelves and in taprooms throughout central Ohio, and more should arrive in the coming weeks.
This year’s crop of seasonals will be similar to previous years, with no shortage of Christmas ales and plenty of stouts. Central Ohio brewers said the coronavirus pandemic, which did not depress beer sales in Ohio, did little to change their brewing plans.
“I feel there’s a higher volume of seasonal beers,” said Kelsey Stief, head of marketing for North High Brewing in
the Short North. “I’ve seen quite a few more Christmas beers, and I felt there were quite a few more Oktoberfest or pumpkin beers (in the fall).”
Alcohol sales have held steady during the pandemic, but the change benefited grocery stores, as many consumers stayed clear of bars. But brewers expect that beer drinkers’ demand for winter beers won’t go away.
“Christmas ale is popular, and anywhere you go people are asking if you have one,” said Shawn White, who coowns Nostalgia Brewing Company in Gahanna. For the season, 2 Tones Brewing in Whitehall is offering a barley wine, a vanilla hazelnut porter, and a crumble beer with a taste resembling cream soda, co-owner Anthony Mckeivier said.
“This is kind of what we did last year,” he said.
Barley’s Brewing Company in the Arena District has a beer named after former Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer which is brewed in a bourbon barrel and appropriately titled “Bourbon Meyer Buckeye Stout.”
Brewmaster Angelo Signorino said it tastes like buckeye candy.
North High is bringing back its Russian imperial stout, Filthy Mcnasty, which Stief said is one of the brewery’s most popular limited releases. North High also brews Wired, a coffee stout brewed with Thunderkiss coffee, in the winter. “Stouts are normally a colder weather beer,” Stief said. “I do know there are people who drink stouts year round, but they’re most popular in the winter, just because they’re heavier in flavor.”
Nostalgia’s Christmas ale has yet to be named, but White said it will be a traditional Christmas beer, which typically are spiced with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, honey or other flavors.
This winter will see the return of Jackie O’s seasonal See Foam, a hazy IPA that is one of the Athens brewery’s most popular limited release beers, head brewer Seth Morton said.
A few changes are expected at central Ohio breweries this year, but for the most part the tweaks are unrelated to the pandemic.
“We would normally release our coffee milk stout, Java the Stout, around this time of year, but we’re taking a year off to rebrand and refresh that beer,” Morton said. Last year Nostalgia offered a seasonal beer called Gumdrop Buttons. “It was really popular, but it had real ginger in it, and it clogged up our lines a little bit,” White said. “We’re brewing a more traditional Christmas ale this year, and it should be named soon.” Barley’s normally makes a concoction called Olde Curiosity during the winter, but it has only one keg left from last year and won’t be brewing more.
“It’s a style called old ale, and it’s on the strong side,” Signorino said. “Strong beers take a long time to sell even under the best of circumstances, and we’re moving about half as much beer as we did (before the pandemic), so we can’t rationalize tying up a tank with a beer that’s not nimble.
“It’s painful to me because it’s my favorite of all the beer we make throughout the year.” Though small breweries have largely stuck to their pre-coronavirus brewing schedule, some of the bigger breweries might change things up, Mckeivier said. “I would assume there would be less seasonal beers from the big guys,” he said. “They’re probably focusing a lot on packaging and beers that go out in cans.”
That means those companies will sell beer that customers recognize, Mckeivier said. pcooley@dispatch.com @Patrickacooley