Do not let the previous post fool you; there has been beer this past month. Three notable events stand out:

Holiday Ales tasting ~ Arbor Brewing’s monthly tasting was comprised of holiday ales such as Christmas spiced (think nutmeg & cinnamon) beers, winter warmers (which tend to be stronger, darker beers), and even a mead. My favorite was Samichlaus beer. Forgive me for being lazy but here is my review: http://mispymag.com/2012/12/drink-of-the-week-samichlaus/

Krampus ~ The annual Krampus party was held at the Corner Brewery on December 15th. Ken was sick, so I had to go alone. Fortunately, I knew enough people there that I did not lack for company so yay! This is a dress up party (as in “costume”) so I trotted out the penguin costume from Halloween and off I went. There was both a naughty beer and a nice beer brewed especially for that event. For the first time, I really enjoyed both! The “nice” was a peanut butter & jelly stout. A few years ago at the Summer Beer Fest, I felt completely drowned in peanut butter stouts; almost every brewery had one and they mostly fell into the “meh” category (with a few standouts). Also, one of the best peanut butter stouts I have had is my friend’s “Fat Elvis” peanut butter & banana stout that pours exclusively at Liberty Street.

It has been a few years since I had a peanut butter stout and this one made me very happy. There was a nice peanut taste but you could still taste the base stout beer. There was also a touch of fruit in the palate. Nice welcome back to the land of the peanut butter stout.

The “naughty” beer was a sour beer with tart fruit juice. I am not a huge fan of sour beers, so I sampled some before I bought (Smart I Is!). Another friend and I discussed this beer and agreed that it wasn’t too sour, which is why we both liked it. It had more of a tart taste from the fruit juice and it balanced well.

End of the World Pajama Party ~ For years, I have been hearing all sorts of bullshit about the world ending on 12/21/12. I had students who were very worried about it, despite my gentle reassurances that if these dumbasses couldn’t predict their own demise then I very much doubt they could predict the end of days but whatever. Fortunately, my Corner brewpub decided that if the world was going to flame out, we could at least go out wearing pajamas and drinking beer. Unfortunately, Ken had to work late and was melting with Tired so we missed another friend’s party 😦 but did manage to make an appearance at the Corner :). I had a mug of Espresso Love because if I was goin’ out, I was goin’ out with some E-Love.

Of course, we all* lived to see another day and here we are! Cheers!

*except those who didn’t, rest their souls