Since I missed July 25th (Michelle and I were in the hospital after the early birth of our second kid), let's get to that beer now. Merry Christmas in August! I've never done Christmas in August before and don't anticipate from deviating from July in the future; let's enjoy this as a fun little one-off thing.

Today we're breaking into a bottle I nabbed from store shelves in January, just before it disappeared. It's De Dolle Brouwers' Stille Nacht. That's right, a heavy Belgian Christmas ale. Luckily, it's a little cooler today than it was a month ago, so I'm more prone to drink a beer of this caliber.

Michelle and I recently returned from a trip down to the Gulf Coast. We spent time strolling along the shore, looking for shells, wading into the ocean, eating some delicious seafood, and sipping tiki drinks on the beach after dark. It was a great getaway, but I still have some beachiness left in me.

Cue today's beer. This was gifted to me by my dad around Easter. It's been in my fridge since, waiting for the right time. Well, that day's today. That beer's Stormcloud's the Nightswimmer.

Well, that was a whirlwind. How was your Christmas? Mine (if you can't tell) got away from me a little. But hey, what's Christmas around here without a late post? And, for this post, I have a little something.

That little something is nothing else than Victory Brewing Company's Merry Monkey, the first beer I've ever had from this prolific brewery. Let's see if it's as Santa's little helpery as I'm hoping it is (we're in the midst of our second Christmas right now).

May, June, and (excepting Christmas in July) July slipped by me. I'd say I don't know how, but that'd be a bold-faced lie. I know exactly how those three months got lost: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom released. I knew it was coming and I knew it'd consume my life. That's exactly what happened.

This has been an absolute whirlwind of a summer and I've been torn pretty damn asunder by it. Luckily, today's about tradition. It's July 25th. That means one thing: Christmas in July!

I have something special for you today: The 2021 variant of the Bruery's 2 Turtle Doves. This dropped late in the holiday season last year and, against whatever odds might have been stacked against me, I managed to track a single bottle of it down before it sold out. Now, it's time to pop it open and see how Christmassy I can make the rest of the day.

Today's beer--the blog's first of the 2022--is one I've had in my posession for a little over three years. It was a Christmas gift back in 2019 (you, know, pre-pandemic) and came from either my dad (I think he's the culprit) or my brother. It was a beer I'd never heard of from a brewery I've only encountered once.

I hadn't meant to age it for three years (seeing as how it was nearly one when it was gifted to me). Nor had I meant to put off this month's initial post for this long (I've had two Covid scares already this calendar year--blowing my record of zero out of the water). Yet, here we are, beginning to forge ahead. Today I'm drinking Whiner's Fur Letter Word. 

I've never had anything from St. Bernardus before. 

I know, I know. They're a famous brewery and their Christmas Ale is what a good chunk of Europe seems to view as the definitive Christmas beer. I've always associated winter warmer ale styles with Christmas, but, because it's the jolliest day of the year, let's give St. Bernardus Christmas Ale a go.

Merry Christmas Eve! You might remember three years back when I drank a fresh bottle of Braxton Labs'  Bourbon Barrel Aged Kringle. I adored the beer. What I didn't mention on the blog is that I bought two bottles when it dropped, keeping one safely squirreled away in my cellar for some fateful Christmas season when the time was right for me to break into it.

As fate would have it, that fateful Christmas season is this year. Let's see how Kringle's drinking now, with a little age on it.

This is a post I've been anxiously anticipating, and I hope it's the first in what becomes a series that'll run the next few months.

See, 2021 marks another emergence of Brood X, cicadas that flood Greater Cincinnati every seventeen years. Knowing this was coming, and knowing that I'm the kind of person to geek out over the bugs, I'd been keeping my eyes peeled for cicada-themed beers. So far, I've found only one: Seventh Son's Abaddon. I bought this back in March and it's been kicking around my fridge since. I'm really hoping that Cincy breweries will hop aboard the cicada train as Brood X continues to hang around this summer.

Today's special, though, because I spotted my first cicada of the brood this morning before leaving for work. It was hanging out on a locust tree in my back yard, breaking free from its shell--a sight I'd never seen before. Sensing a photo-op (okay, because Michelle suggested it), I quickly ran inside and pulled my can of Abaddon from the fridge. In my eyes, the emergence has officially begun. To mark it, here're my thoughts on Seventh Son's Abaddon.

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.

When's the last time you washed your hands? Been an hour? Go take care of that then come back. It's okay. This post can wait.

Go on.

Okay, now that that's done, we're good. Today's the second in my COVID-19 Pandemic Tales from the Cellar series. For each of these, Michelle's selecting a beer from my cellar for me to review. Today, I discovered she's a big fan of how Warped Wing's bottles looks, because she picked one of their beers again. This is something that I'm 100% not complaining about; I love me some Warped Wing. So, here we go: A 2017 bottle of Warped Wing's Coyoacán.

That beer, if the above image and title of this post didn't give it away, is Brewery Huyghe's Delirium Noël. It's all foil-wrapped painted glass adorned with a Santa hat-wearing, ice-skating pink elephant. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited for it!

It's now within two weeks of Christmas and, I have to admit, I've not been feeling particularly festive lately. Maybe it's because of the weather--sure, it's been cold, and I mean cold, but the snow's been keeping away. Maybe it's because we don't have a tree--that should be remedied Friday. Maybe it's because work's been a little hectic. Who knows?


I'm hoping to rekindle some of the Christmas magic tonight with the first (of three!) holiday releases to drop under Braxton's banner this year (note that I'm only tackling two of these during my Christmas blow-out): Bourbon Barrel Aged Kringle, hailing from Braxton Labs. This is a beer I've never had before, but, if it's as good as described, it should do just the trick.

Merry Christmas in July! This is my fourth annual Christmas in July post, and it's one I look forward to every year. When I wrote the meat of this post last night (I work tonight and there's no way it was going to get done when I come home) I was listening to The Cloisters' Little Winter. If you want the full experience from reading this, I suggest you throw that on your speakers.


This year's Summer Xmas post come's all the way from Belgium's Brouwerij (or, Brewery) Corsendonk: Corsendonk Christmas Ale. When I saw it at my local bottle shop the other week, I knew I had to get it for this post. I have another beer that I initially wanted to write about for this, but I think it can age another year.

This is a post that's been some time coming. It's a political one. Not political as in Democrat versus Republican. No, it's political in a much more important sense: It focuses on the politics of beer. In having this one-man discussion (you're more than welcome to join in in the comments!), I do not promise to pose any concrete answers to questions that might arise as you read this. I'll do best to explain my views and hope that they do something to add to yours. But that might not be the case. Like I said, this is a political post.


We will have a focal point in this post. You can see what it is if you've glanced at the title. It's what, at one time, was my favorite brewery, Wicked Weed, and their Lunatic Blonde Belgian-style ale.

This is it, everyone. We're exactly one week out from the big day. My tree's been up and decorated since the end of November. Yesterday we were at Michelle's parents', helping them trim theirs (they're lucky enough to have a real tree). I'm done shopping for all my people but two. I don't have much longer to get everything else I need together--wish me luck!


But, even though I have that yuletide deadline hanging over my head, I still have to take time to enjoy my final three beers of the season. Today's beer should be a surprise for those of you that follow me on Instagram; it wasn't included in my Christmas beer preview post, simply because I didn't have it at the time nor did I know if I'd find any. But, luck was on my side. Today, I'm drinking Fat Head's' Pimp My Sleigh.

Oops. I totally meant to get this out last month. I really wanted to just feature fall beers in September and beyond but I guess you autumnal naysayers lucked out. As it turns out, I'll be writing two posts this weekend (this one is included in that count) and neither feature fall brews.


I guess that means summer's going to go out with a bang here at John Likes Beer. Let's get this passing of the seasons started with today's beer: Petoskey's Horny Monk.

Here we are at Bell's again. This marks the fourth offering from the Michigan brewery I've discussed on the blog. Why do I write about it so much? Chalk it up to the following reasons (these are the most easily recognizable causes I can imagine): 1.) Bell's makes so many seasonals that they're easy to find and, therefore, try; 2.) I'm a state removed from the brewery, so their beer is basically everywhere I turn to buy beer (not a bad thing at all, by the way); 3.) I have family in close proximity to Bell's, so I heard a lot about it growing up.  Regardless of the reasons, I'm not upset that I get to try so much beer from Bell's.


Winter White Ale does, however, receive a distinction that only one other Bell's beer about which I've written has enjoyed: The experience I'm about to describe is the first time I've tried the brew.

Going into it, I don't know a lot about Winter White. I know that it's a wheat ale. I know that it's ABV is 5%. That's about it. I'm expecting this to be something of a wheaty Belgian white style ale.

Before I start talking about today's beer, please allow my to explain my month-plus long absence: I've been sick. Really, really sick. My illness took away some of my sense of taste and the majority of my sense of smell, and I need both of these to be in working order to fully experience a brew. Now that I'm on the mend my nose and tastebuds are starting to shape up enough for me to tell you about Blue Moon's early-spring offering.


This beer has been siting in my fridge for over a month awaiting my review. After I wrote about Sam Adam's Cold Snap (a post in which I mentioned Fist Peach Ale) a friend of mine informed me that he prefers First Peach and that he believed I would, too. It's not a bad beer, I'll give it that.

First Peach's packaging touts that it has "...notes of peach and coriander" (yet again, I don't know what coriander actually tastes like because I've only ever encountered it layered under other flavors in spring-time releases). The brew's profile on Blue Moon's website (heavily) implies that it's a fusion of a traditional Belgian-style sour brown ale and a peach wheat ale from the good ol' US of A.

I've never encountered a peach wheat ale--nor have I ever seen one--so I cannot speak to their flavor or overall goodness. In fact, this is only the second peach-infused brew I've had (the other one is a go-to Christmas brew of mine that I'll write about in late-November or December this year).

However, having said that, I am incredibly fond of peaches in and of themselves. I tell you this so you'll hopefully understand the gravity of what I'm about to type. The peachy taste of this ale is far more that prominent; it's overpowering.

From the scent to the taste, all I get is peach. Which isn't necessarily bad (especially if you like peaches and things reminiscent of peaches) but it may not be your thing (I'm guessing it isn't Purrl's because she gave it one measly sniff before turning away and refusing to pose next to the bottle for a picture with her nose facing the beer).


If she, in fact, does not like peaches I understand her lack of sniffage; the aroma given off by the bottle is 100% peach. Speaking from a purely taste perspective, this is a beer that doesn't taste like a beer: it's peach flavoring with a watery backing.

Mouthfeel-wise, it's pretty dang flat until you move to swallow it and it assaults the inside of your cheeks with bubbles. It's a really odd sensation to go from nothing to something like that and, I have to say, it's really cool.

When I was sixteen I worked as a lifeguard at my town's community pool. Being out under the hot sun all day meant, aside from the fact that I had a kickass tan, I had an obvious need to stay hydrated. The pool met that need by supplying us lifeguards with bottles upon bottles of water. They also gave us an assortment flavor packets to mix into the water. Among the available packets my favorite was peach tea. That's almost the exact flavor offered by this brew.

Near the beginning of this post I said that this isn't a bad beer and I stand by that (I also stand by my "it doesn't taste like a beer" statement. Take that as you will). I wish it was stronger for what it is (the 5.6% ABV doesn't quite do it for me) but that's neither here nor there. Since I like peaches and things that taste like peaches, I'm giving Blue Moon's First Peach Ale a 7.0/10. If this sounds like it's something that'd be up your alley, give it a shot! Because of the oddness of Fist Peach, it's really a beer that you ought to try for yourself. I just hope you like it more that Purrl does.