The 12 Beers of Christmas - 2016 Edition

It's an annual rite of celebration that we propose to reinvigorate this tired blog by bastardizing the classic 12 Days of Christmas. Why should this year be any different? Honestly, you prefer us talking about beer because there is no way we can name 12 drummers in total let alone 12 drummers we would want to receive as a gift. Also, I have kids now so if anybody brings drummers and/or drums into my house we're in a huge fight. Let's get on with it, shall we?

On the first day of Christmas my trusty assistant brought to me Southern Tier's Krampus.

Krampus is a half-goat, half-demon who punishes bad children at Christmas time. I don't know any more than that except that there was a movie that approximately eight people watched. Krampus is kind of creepy but so is Santa Clause. For some reason, parents have to play bad cop all year and once a year we plow our kids with toys but give credit to some mythical figure. Actually, parents should celebrate Krampus because somebody else is playing bad cop for once. Merry Krampus!

Southern Tier's Krampus is a Imperial Helles Lager and it is quite good. Southern Tier has some top notch brews, including the 2X IPA and Choklat. Krampus deserves to be in the same company. Krampus pours a dark golden color with a thin head. There is a nice mix of malt and hop in the aroma but the malt outperforms the hops in taste. It's full bodied and feels big but it's an imperial so somewhat expected.

It's worth noting that the bomber is date stamped October 10, 2016 at 2:30p. There is not enough clear date stamping in craft beer so gold star extra credit to Southern Tier for letting the drinker see the freshness right on the label.