CHEERS TO HOLIDAY BEERS
Ohio breweries boast variety of seasonal offerings
It might seem that holiday/christmas beers first start appearing in stores sometime in August, but now that the calendar has moved past Thanksgiving and turned to December, it’s officially time to start cracking them open. h Because the holidays are imbued with the sense of giving and goodwill toward others, Dispatch photographer Adam Cairns (who delivered these beautiful photos with the story) selflessly volunteered to help out a colleague and sample the variety of holiday offerings in this review. h From among the many local, statewide and national brands, we chose six widely available brews from Ohio and split them equally. Here is what we found:
Patrick’s three
Dad, Rhinegeist Brewery, Cincinnati $9.99 for a six-pack of cans; 6.0% alcohol by volume
If you’re going to name a beer “Dad,” you’d best have Dad jokes on the can, and Rhinegeist delivers right off the bat. “Hi Thirsty, I’m Dad” it begins, and I bonded with this beer immediately, like two dads who show up at a party wearing the same shirt (which they both bought 17 years ago at Kohl’s).
Billed as a “hoppy holiday ale,” it pours dark-reddish/caramel in color and has malt flavors up front and a slight bite of hops at the end. It’s nicely balanced and not heavy on the usual spices — which can be a good thing or bad thing depending on what you want out of your holiday ale. Smooth and drinkable, I would call this a safe, middle-ofthe-road choice.