Whether for your own guests, as Christmas gifts or host/hostess gifts, pick up some Christmas beers.

Anchor Christmas Ale and Samuel Adams have good national distribution for their holiday brews, and your regional microbrewer no doubt has a seasonal special ale, beer, porter or stout. Here’s a list of Christmas brews.

A Christmas ale is typically rich and dark ale, brewed with special holiday spices and often, a higher alcohol content to ward off the winter chill. However, even wheat beers, the lightest style, get the holiday treatment.

Different brewers use cinnamon, clove, coriander, ginger, nutmeg and/or vanilla, and perhaps a touch of honey.

Christmas ale makes a holiday beer drinking more special. It’s a welcome holiday gift, stocking stuffer or host gift for beer lovers.

Merry Mischief is a gingerbread-spiced beer from Samuel Adams. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

Cranberry Lambic is a crisp fruit beer that delivers rich cranberry flavor along with notes of banana, clove and nutmeg. While many people enjoy a lambic with dessert, some astringency and tartness makes this beer companionable to any course. It’s perfect with roast turkey.

Holiday Porter is a rich, robust, smooth and malty: Four different types of malted barley plus a dash of flaked oats are used in the brew. The deep roasted flavors pair well with hearty or spicy fare.

Merry Mischief is a rich, smooth and sweet dark gingerbread stout with the enticing aromas of the holidays. The intensity of cinnamon, clove, ginger and nutmeg evoke the flavor of fresh gingerbread. Although it can be enjoyed with most foods, we especially liked it with gingerbread cookies and carrot cake.

Winter Lager is a full-bodied, malty, spicy lager with a deep ruby color and a “holiday” aroma of cinnamon and ginger; there’s also a hint of orange peel. The spices and roasty sweetness of the malts pair beautifully with Thai food and other spicy dishes where the chile heat needs to be subdued.

Head to your nearest store and stock up.

DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BEER?

Browse through our Beer Glossary.

Executive Chef Jason Tilmann has assembled stunning flavors and visual excitement, making this the menu we want to eat on New Year’s Eve.

Normally, we eschew words like “decadent” and “sinful” that some people inaccurately use to describe luscious foods. But in the case of luxurious excessiveness, we bow to Benjamin Franklin in “Poor Richard’s Almanac”:

No wonder Tom grows fat, the unwieldy Sinner,
Makes his whole Life but one continual Dinner.

Let Chef Tilmann’s menu inspire your own thoughts for New Year’s Eve dining. And may the richness of your dinner inspire restraint in the new year—at least, until Valentine’s Day.

SEVEN DEADLY SINS MENU

1. ENVY: a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another’s advantages, success, possessions, etc.

Dish: osetra caviar, buckwheat blini, onion, egg and chives.
2. VANITY: excessive pride in one’s appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements, etc.

Even if you can’t make complex dishes like Triomphe’s, you can combine ingredients simply, like smoked salmon, salmon caviar (at the bottom of the dish), black caviar, a dab of crème fraîche and an herb garnish. Photo courtesy Tsar Nicoulai.

Dish: lobster dumplings, wakame salad and ginger butter.

3. WRATH: strong, stern or fierce anger; deeply resentful indignation; ire.

Dish: spicy prawns, lemon, roasted garlic and herbed risotto.

4. GLUTTONY: excessive eating and drinking.

Dish: Pol Roger champagne sorbet, gold leaf and crispy grapes.

5. SLOTH: habitual disinclination to exertion; indolence; laziness.

Dish: slow-cooked cassoulet with duck confit, slab bacon and white northern beans.

6. GREED: excessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possessions.

Dish: smoked Kobe tenderloin, fingerling potatoes, asparagus and bordelaise sauce.

7. LUST: an overwhelming desire or craving.

Dish: Valrhona chocolate soufflé with Grand Marnier crème anglaise.
 
These seven “sinful” courses are certain to engender a day of restraint on January 1st.

Today’s tip is inspired by these delicious cupcakes from Perfect Endings, a Napa Valley bakery that sells them online via WilliamsSonoma.com.

You can buy or bake and frost your own cupcakes, then decorate them with festive elements. It’s a fun family activity. Consider:

 
Make a double batch: They’ll disappear quickly!

But the special holiday popcorns are the our favorites: Dark Chocolatier Sea Salt Holidrizzle Kettle Corn and White Chocolatier Holidrizzle Kettle Corn.

We like both the chocolate and peppermint popcorn so much, that we’re stocking up for the next few months:

 
Plain popcorn is just 35 calories per cup; the chocolate and peppermint popcorns are 135 to 150 calories, but worth it! And, if you need a sugary snack, popcorn is a whole grain.

Check the store locator for the retailer nearest you, or head to AngiesPopcorn.com.

WHAT’S A CHOCOLATIER?

Find more chocolate terminology in our delicious Chocolate Glossary.
 
Find more of our favorite snacks in our Gourmet Snacks Section.
  

It couldn’t be easier: drizzle the cheese with
honey and sprinkle the almonds. Photo
courtesy VermontCreamery.com.

So how about this couldn’t-be-easier hors d’oeuvre or appetizer for entertaining? Simply:

 
What’s your favorite easy hors d’oeuvre? Let us know!

Learn all about goat cheese and our other favorite cheeses in our Gourmet Cheese Section.