Beer of the week for December 24, 2020

Our Bottlecraft North Park manager, Gene, selects his favorite beer of the week. You can stay up to date on our beer shop favorites through our news feed and also through our Instagram.

1. Alvarado Street Lloyd Christmas | Hazy Double IPA (8%) 
   
   Alvarado Street Brewery leans heavily on popular culture references of the 1980s and 1990s in their etymologies, to winking effect, and this one’s named after the iconic Jim Carrey character, one half of the two-man act that propels the 1994 slapstick comedy Dumb & Dumber. Mosaic, Simcoe Cryo, Waimea and Idaho 7 make for a tropical vacation during the winter holidays.

2. Cellarmaker Midnight Silk | Schwarzbier (5%)
   
   An annual release coinciding with the shortest day of the year! With a baker’s chocolate aroma yet strikingly low bitterness, this is a must-have for fans of black lagers. One of the few positive developments of 2020 is the debut of Cellarmaker Brewing in San Diego, a much-vaunted wish. We look forward to much more from them in 2021!

3. The Rare Barrel Blurred with Barbera / Pinot Noir | Oak-aged Sour w/ Red Wine Grapes (9.1% / 11%)
   
   In the spirit of bounty, this is actually two separate entries in the same series, lying at the intersection of sour beer and natural wine. The Rare Barrel in my hometown of Berkeley makes exquisite oak-aged mixed-fermentation beers, with a lineage stretching back through New Belgium Brewing to Russian River Brewing. Their latest experimental foray combines the best of acidic ales and carbonic maceration in red wines, utilizing (respectively) Barbera and Pinot Noir grapes stemming from Heringer Estates just south of Sacramento. Happy holidays everyone!