3 Exciting Craft Beer Variety Packs For The Holidays

‘Tis the season. And breweries are releasing holiday variety packs and getting more adventurous with the process…

And here’s some of what may be coming your way, sooner rather than later…

Short’s Super Hoppy Holidays Variety Pack

Short’s Brewing is upping the ante on the traditional holiday 12-Pack concept and offering an even more bountiful package with 18 uber-hoppy beers for the holidays…A huge undertaking for the  Elk Rapids, Michigan-based brewery that takes up tons of tank space and two days spent hand-packing each individual case.

“With the increased demand we’ve been experiencing, it would have been easy for us to skip this variety pack to catch up on flagships. But after the insanity of 2020, we wanted to spread a little extra holiday cheer this season,” Scott Newman-Bale, Chief Executive Officer of Short’s Brewing Company stated. “We did our best to select some of our most sought after brands and give some love to products we haven’t put out in a while.”

And here’s this season’s offerings…

Juicy Tree IPA – A 10.1% ABV experimental India Pale Ale made with blue spruce tips, juniper berries, and cranberries. Juicy Tree boasts big evergreen and sweet berries aromatics.

Double Psychedelic Cat Grass— An unapologetic triple dry hopped IPA that’s twice as crazy. Doubling down on Short’s Psychedelic Cat Grass, this brand new offering is a 9.7% IPA with a boozy malt backbone and the tropical fruit and bitterness you’d expect, but not the bite.

Slurm Lord – Employing the largest dry hop in the brewery’s history, Short’s Slurm Lord is a 7.3% ABV  New England style India Pale Ale brewed with oats and a blend of Citra, Azacca, Amarillo, El Dorado, and Mosaic hops.  With dank passion fruit, mango, and pineapple aromatics, Slurm Lord resembles a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. This medium-bodied India Pale Ale is incredibly juicy from start to finish.

Yoda’s Blend – Different every year, Yoda’s Blend 2020 is an 8.6% ABV India Pale Ale brewed with a complex blend of hops never to be replicated again. Copper in color, this nuanced IPA has HUGE currant, spruce/pine and tropical notes in the aroma and flavor.

 The Liberator – Originally crafted as a 30th birthday gift to brewery founder Joe Short, this 8% ABV Double IPA, employs a hefty malt bill and crazy amount of hops added to the boil every 4 minutes. With fruity, floral, and piney hop flavors penetrating the caramelized malt profile, The Liberator is a well-balanced, full-bodied India Pale Ale with a post fermentation addition of lemon and orange zest.

Batch 10,000 – Celebrating the 10,000th batch brewed at Short’s, Batch 10,000 is a massive 13.2% ABV Brut IPA crafted with mango and black currant. Potent flavors of mango fruitiness and black currant tartness blend smartly with the high ABV alcohol notes. A huge amount of hops contributes to a palate coating body that smooths with every sip.

Jingle Bell’s Variety Pack

No matter what you think of Bell’s Brewery’s first ever holiday variety pack, you can’t help but appreciate its name.

Available now, Jingle Bell’s Variety 12-pack follows the developing model of offering three flagship beers along with something brand new, that’s only available in that package.

The flagships include the award-winning Two-Hearted Ale, its new lower ABV variation, Light-Hearted Ale, and Bell’s Official, the Comstock, Michigan-based brewery’s recently introduced Hazy IPA.

The variety pack also includes a new beer that was developed over several batches at Bell’s Innovation Brewery….

Bell’s Juicy Gossip is explained as a sessionable 4.7% ABV Pale Ale with big tropical aromatics, a juicy hop character and an uber-soft bitterness.

Clown Shoes 12 Beers of Christmas

Boston, Massachusetts-based Clown Shoes is offering the kind of craft beer 12-Pack that we’ve been begging for, for years. Clown Shoes’ 12 Beers of Christmas, features 12 (you read that right), 12 unique beers.

Here’s a look at a few of the beers included in this super creative winter holiday pack…

Bubble Farm IPA – Brewed with Mosaic, Simcoe, Azacca, and Idaho 7 hops, his light-colored American IPA maintains an approachable medium-body without sacrificing flavor or aroma. (6.5% ABV)

Galactica Double IPA 7% – Dry hopped with Galaxy Hops, this Double IPA balances a hop profile of light bitterness and notes of tropical fruit, citrus, and pine with a clean malt backbone. (7% ABV)

Reindeer Games Bavarian IPA – Let the games begin! A celebration of Saaz, Mandarina, and Mosaic hops this malt-forward Red IPA that is crafted with both German and American hops and malts. (7% ABV)

Advent Party Crasher Imperial Stout – Who does not love a chocolate orange during the holiday season? Clown Shoes took the base recipe from our winter-time favorite American Imperial Stout, Undead Party Crasher, and added lactose mandarin orange flavor along with sweet orange peel to add a little splash of citrus. (9% ABV)

Space Cake Double IPA – This Double IPA features bold hop aromas and strong juicy flavors of tropical citrus. A sweet and strong malt backbone pairs with a subtle booziness to make this DIPA an extraterrestrial odyssey. (9% ABV)

One Man Holiday Belgian Quadrupel Ale 11.5% Rich, malty, and full of Unlike most beers in the pack you’ll be hard-pressed to find any hop flavor in this huge Belgian-Style Quad with a dark/ripe fruit sweetness and a massive malt backbone.