Two things: 1) You really didn't think I'd let the entire month of January slip away without providing a proper post, did you? 2) Did I really go through all of 2022 without discussing a single MadTree beer on the blog?

Good for all of us, then, that I have a remedy for both those things. Here in the bleak, chilly late days of January, I'm turning to a MadTree classic to officially ring in 2023 for John Likes Beer. That's right, I'm drinking an aged bottle of Coffee & Vanilla Bourbon Barrel Aged Axis Mundi (Axis Mundi henceforth).

Here's hoping you had a Merry Christmas! The holiday was a whirlwind for Michelle and me--the roads to and from our holiday destination were fraught with peril (due entirely to Winter Storm Elliot). Yet, we made it there and back again all the same.

Now that things are finally settling down, we're posted up at home and dealing with all the lingering pre-Christmas to-dos that are left. On this break from them, I'm taking time, at last, to get out my Christmas '22 post: Great Lakes' Barrel Aged Christmas Ale.

It's that time again for what's become a yearly tradition here on the blog. See, for the uninitiated, San Francisco, CA's Anchor Brewing does a special beer each year for Christmas. Each annual label bears a different hand-drawn tree each year the beer boasts a new secret recipe. This goes back to the first Anchor Christmas Ale, in 1975.

Since 2015 (when I drank the 2014 Christmas Ale out of season), each new variant of Christmas Ale's been around the blog. Some I liked more than others. Let's see how 2022 stacks up to the rest.