This is a beer I'm happy to get to tonight. See, this is a stout that struck me as nothing less than a winter's night stout. Just yesterday, it was in the mid-fifties--far from what I'd consider "winter." Luckily, I still live in Ohio, so now, little more than twenty-four hours later, it's in the low- to mid-twenties. Snow's coming down outside and we have a fire in our buck stove. It's definitely a winter's night.


The beer I was saving? That'd be Clown Shoes' Snow on the Maple Tree, an imperial stout. Snow, maple, imperial stout--seems like this brew was tailor-made for me. On paper, at least. How will it hold up in practice?

Good morning! And, I do mean that as good morning. It's currently ten o'clock as I sit here typing this. Me? Don't sweat a thing--I've been up and at it for hours. I went for a run (I am so damn out of shape). I took a shower. I'm getting ready to take a quick break from this post to drive Michelle to the post office and eat breakfast. Then, I'll be back at it with today's beer.


And, what is today's beer, you may ask? A barleywine. A breakfast barleywine. Crazy, right? I found a can (multiple cans, actually) at my local bottleshop priced at $4 a pop. I couldn't say no. So, without further ado (for you, not for me--I've a bit to do before this next bit), let's find out all about CAMERON'S Brewing's Early Bird Breakfast Barley Wine.

I survived the transition from 2018 to 2019 and, if you're reading this, so did you. Congratulations! Both of us deserve some major props for that. I have no idea what the new year has in store for me, but I do know where I'd like to take John Likes Beer in 2019--I'll do a full "state of the union" type post about it soon.


Today, though, I have something else going on: Tucking into Saugatuck Brewing Company's barrel-aged variant of one of my favorite beers. Read on as I crack open a bottle Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Blueberry Maple Stout.

Merry Christmas! Okay, I know Christmas was yesterday, but humor me; I was incredibly ill. But, I'm feeling better now (finally) and celebrating by nestling down with a very special ale.

You may recall exactly three years ago when I said that Thirsty Dog's 12 Dogs of Christmas was my favorite Christmas beer. Between then and now I've tried a lot of Christmas brews, only a portion of which have made it to the blog. Shockingly, 12 Dogs has remained my favorite; it's what I consider to be the pinnacle of the style, and is the beer of which I consume the most each November and December.

Tonight, I'm hoping to de-throne it. I've known that Thirsty Dog offers a Barrel Aged variant of the stuff for a while now (a place near me had, until early October this year, two giant $50 bottles of it) but I've never found it packaged in a way that was easy for me to purchase and consume. Until this year. That's right: Barrel Aged 12 Dogs of Christmas is back and in twelve-ounce bottles. I cannot wait to get my first taste of the stuff.