Peabody's Winter Beer Guide Pt. 2

Yes, I know the spring beers are already on the grocery store shelves, but it's still plenty cold here in NC, so we'll keep talking winter beers. We left off with "session" beers, here's a couple more -

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/140/1904
http://www.sierranevada.com/beers/celebrationale.html

“…best beer ever made in America.”
– Stan Sessor, San Francisco Chronicle

I don't know that I would go as far as ol' Stan, but I will say this is one of the best beers ever made in America, and a perennial favorite of mine. This is very much an IPA (India Pale Ale), so it is hoppy by nature, what this beer has that many hop-bombs don't is a sort of crispness. As I said before, one of my favorites. Highly recommended, particularly for hops fans. This is what Winterhook wants to be when it grows up.

Rogue Santa's Private Reserve Ale

http://www.rogue.com/brews.html#santa

>http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/132/1173

Again a cut above the Winterhooks of the world, this one is a nice brownish-red color, has some maltiness to it that is not entirely drowned out by the "mystery hop named Rudolph" the brewers snuck in. Very drinkable, have several! There are breweries that occasionally get it right, then there are those that simply don't make any bad beer, Rogue is certainly in that category, you can't go wrong picking up one of their beers. So once the Santa's Private Reserve is gone for the year, have a Dead Guy, on me.