Regardless of where you live, you’re guaranteed to be in for a few cold (if not bone-chillingly frigid) nights over the next few months. Sure, you can wrap yourself in a giant fleece blanket or three and sit by a roaring fire, but you’re going to need other ways to warm your bones. For this, we turn to sex, weed, dancing, and (of course) alcohol.
When it comes to cold winter nights, nobody will fault you for immediately cracking open a bottle or two of warming whisk(e)y. That’s all well and good, but sometimes we’d rather savor a beer instead. Barleywines, Scotch ales, porters, and any number of over-the-top, barrel-aged imperial stouts are sure to make an appearance this winter. But so are wintry IPAs, schwarzbiers, and even ESBs.
To find these wintry gems, we turned to the professionals for help. We asked a handful of notable craft beer experts and brewers to tell us their favorite beers to drink on a cold winter night. Keep scrolling to see all of their selections.
Thomas Hardy’s Ale
Ryan Pachmayer, head brewer at Yak & Yeti Brewpub and Restaurant in Arvada, Colorado
ABV: 11.7%
Average Price: $11.50 for an 11-ounce bottle
The Beer:
Those vintage Thomas Hardy’s bottles. I have more of the JW Lees, but the Hardy’s really hit the spot for me. They’re deep, complex and not cloying. They’re also a great size, at just over 6 ounce, enough to enjoy but not too much. I pour one into a medium brandy glass and sit by the fire.
Tasting Notes:
Favors of dried fruits, caramel, fruit esters, figs, and earthy, herbal hops are found on this classic, wintery barleywine.
Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad
Ryan Joy, lead brewer at Green Flash Brewery in San Diego
ABV: 12.2%
Average Price: $14.99 for a four-pack
The Beer:
Cold fall nights call for Belgian-style dark strong/quadruple. If it’s aged in bourbon barrels, even better. My favorite is Bourbon Barrel Quad from Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City. Vanilla and oak notes from the barrel blend well with the dark malt profile and characterful Belgian yeast.
Tasting Notes:
Notes of mulling spice and dried cherries along with the strong ABV will warm up on even the coolest of nights.
Ogopogo Nachtkrapp
Dave Ziolkowski, head brewer at Arts District Brewing Company in Los Angeles
ABV: 5.5%
Average Price: Limited Availability
The Beer:
Schwarzbier. Specifically, Ogopogo’s Nachtkrapp this year. We run a Schwarzbier festival at Arts District Brewing every December and try to strongarm all of our brewery friends into making Schwarzbier to submit to our Schwarzmas Schwarz-Off. Ogopogo just won first place last weekend. I’m doing my best over here to establish the link between Schwarzbier and the holiday season.
Tasting Notes:
It’s the perfect Christmas party chugger. Low ABV, light on the body, a touch of roast that turns more cocoa and squaw bread. We went through seventeen Schwarzbiers and Ogopogo’s won handily.
Perennial Maman
Zach Fowle, advanced Cicerone and head of marketing at Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. in Phoenix, Arizona
ABV: 11.5%
Average Price: Limited Availability
The Beer:
Every time I try Perennial Artisan Ales’ rye barrel-aged imperial stout, Maman, I react with the same backwards head tilt and slow, appreciative ‘oof.’ I call it ‘The Maman Response.’ I’m thinking of writing a paper on it. But until the scientific community recognizes the value of such research, talking about the beer itself will have to do—and there’s a lot to say.
Tasting Notes:
Melted dark chocolate, woody maple syrup, and torched marshmallows squeeze the tongue like a fist; deeply toasted oak delivers a soft smokiness and sprinkles of toasted coconut when they let go. Fruity rye whiskey floats above the palate before the swallow, which surges with crumbled graham crackers and steak char. Luxardo cherries dance at the exhale, and the barbecue notes—the wood and smoke—become even more apparent as the beer warms. It’s thick and creamy as a milkshake and the heat of 11% ABV is noticeable, but both aspects are fully appropriate given the avalanche of flavor that rumbles down the gullet with each swallow. Oof.
Ex Novo Ruminator
Wes Burbank, head brewer at Flix Brewhouse in San Antonio
ABV: 8%
Average Price: $7.99 for a 16-ounce can
The Beer:
Ruminator Doppelbock from Ex Novo (Portland, Oregon and Corrales, New Mexico). I love a good doppelbock on a nice fall evening, and this one checks all the boxes. Double-decocted malty goodness, made by wonderful people.
Tasting Notes:
Brown bread, toffee candy, dried fruits, and rich roasted malts make this a warming, bold beer for the cold nights ahead.
Ferment ESB
Kaylen Gibbens, assistant brew master at Widmer Brothers Brewing in Portland, Oregon
ABV: 5.4%
Average Price: Limited Availability
The Beer:
It changes, but right now I keep going back to Ferment’s ESB. I just love how it starts with some complexity in aroma and body but has a nice clean finish. Not enough drinkers know the magic of a well-made extra special bitter.
Tasting Notes:
It starts with a gentle nutty sweetness and then moves in caramel malts, bready malts, chocolate, and light, earthy hops at the finish.
Fair State Life Ain’t Fair
Garth E. Beyer, certified Cicerone and owner and founder of Garth’s Brew Bar in Madison, Wisconsin
ABV: 14.8%
Average Price: $25 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
Fair State Brewing Cooperative’s barleywine called Life Ain’t Fair is the best beer to drink on a cold fall night. This is a beer that makes you forget how cold it is. Or how late it has gotten since you cracked it open.
Tasting Notes:
It’s a stupidly simple flavor profile of straight caramel and toffee with a very light touch of floral and fig notes. The beer is almost sticky on the palate in the best way, but the ABV (14.8%) doesn’t let that stickiness last.
Sierra Nevada Celebration
Max Shafer, brew master at Roadhouse Brewing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
ABV: 6.8%
Average Price: $11.99 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Celebration from Sierra Nevada. This beer sings fall and winter to me. It has a medium body, it’s slightly malty and hopped with some of the freshest hops around. It’s a great beer to drink to take a break from some of the darker, heavier beers of winter.
Tasting Notes:
The mild citrus balanced with pine makes me search for this release year after year. Grapefruit, tangerine, lime, and dank pine. This beer has it all.
Suarez Poet’s Walk
Kyle Warren, lead brewer at Exhibit ‘A’ Brewing Company in Framingham, Massachusetts
ABV: 10.6%
Average Price: Limited Availability
The Beer:
Poet’s Walk Suarez Family Brewery. Release the beer when it’s ready. That was what the folks over at Suarez decided when they bottled this beer back in 2017 and nearly four years later, it was finally released.
Tasting Notes:
A bit of intentional oxidation morphed this beer, bringing out some light vinegar and sherry on the nose, complemented by wine-like malty sweetness and a touch of sherry. The flavor is a plethora of dark fruit, including cherry, red grape, and pomegranate, layered with a brown sugary, malty sweetness. It finishes dry with a pleasant afterglow of higher alcohols. The sherry-like quality, compliments the mélange of mature fruit flavors, making this beer a joy to slowly sip, allowing it to warm and open up even more.
One of best made American barleywines I have had, I was quite sad when I drank my last bottle.
Kentucky Bourbon Ale
Judy Neff, owner and brewer at Checkerspot Brewing Company in Baltimore
ABV: 8.1%
Average Price: $12.99 for a four-pack
The Beer:
Once the weather starts to turn cold, I’m ready for the barrel-aged beers. My favorite that we don’t brew would have to be Kentucky Bourbon Ale with the strong bourbon barrel flavor and a balanced amber malt base.
Tasting Notes:
I love the combination of bourbon with amber beers – the vanilla and wood complement the malty flavors and they’ve been doing it for quite a while.