We're in a bright spot of sunshine between rain and thunderstorms here on January 1, 2021. I lack the ability to see the future, but I'm willing to go on record saying that this is probably how the good moments of this year will shape up to be: bright bits of warm, shining light between less than favorable moments. My bio (over on the right of this text) says I'm a purist. I'm also a realist. Life's not all sunny days, but that's all the more reason to savor them while they're around.

Take today's weather, for an exact example. When I think of January, I think of cold, grey skies with snow or ice falling and covering the ground. This unseasonably warm weather is exceptional. It's giving me hope that the year'll be better than last, or, at least, that we'll work to make it so. 

I'm dipping a bit to deep here. I know that. So, let's shift focus. This is a day for celebrating, that's what I'm trying to get at. I intend to celebrate, and I'll be doing that with a personal whale that I managed to track down a two month's back: Wolf's Ridge's Dire Wolf.

Here we are, suddenly, on the other end of Christmas. Did you have a good one? Were you able to see your family, either safely-distanced in person or through some video chatting service? Was Santa kind to you? Regardless of how you spent the day (or if you celebrate it), I hope you had some fun. I hope that you got something nice, even/especially if you gave it to yourself.

Me? I had a good Christmas. I gave a lot of really great presents and got some of the best gifts I've ever received. It was a fun day, and I'm excited to settle in with tonight's beer, the final beer of the holiday season and the last one I'll be doing up on the blog in 2020. This beer took me by surprise--I found it by sheer luck in a local bottleshop. I didn't know it was releasing, nor did I know it even existed.

Can you believe that Christmas is tomorrow? Seriously. Christmas--it's tomorrow. I still can't quite wrap my head around that. This year's been awful. Regardless, the holiday season's been good to me. Were I one to sit and count my blessings, I'd have a lot to be thankful for. 

Today I'm celebrating that with the oldest beer I've featured on the blog. This bottle's eight years old (that's as old as Purrl!). It's a Belgian Christmas beer (imported from Belgium by Shelton Brothers, Inc.). I have every reason to suspect that this'll be a decadent treat. Ho ho ho here we go.

Today's beer is another special treat for me--it's the second of two Christmas beers I wasn't sure I'd be able to track down. See, New Holland announced their third Brewer's Best series beer in early November. That beer is Holiday Ale. While you could preorder it for local pickup, there was no mention of any distribution.

Two weeks ago, after failing to find the ale at a local bottleshop, I hopped on the brewery's beer locator and saw that the beer was nonexistent in my neck of the woods. I shrugged and cut my losses--I figured I had enough beers for the blog's holiday season.

All this to say that I was shocked when I found the beer at that exact same bottleshop last Friday. I grabbed a four-pack and headed directly for the checkout with it. Now, four days later, I'm ready to crack into a can. Here we go: New Holland's Holiday Ale.