Beer Tears

I am at the grocery store to stock up on my favourite seasonal brews, and there they are - gone ! Yes it is around this time of year that the wonderfully thick and meaty 'Christmas' ales start to disappear from the shelves. All of a sudden they're gone, never giving me a chance to hoard up a private stash, prolonging the inevitable another month or two. I remember in my youth in Quebec, eagerly anticipating the first drop of Labatt's (?) Carnival at the depanneur, a rich hearty brew with 6.2% (or more?) alcohol. Then as winter waned, I would detect the subtlest dwindling of supply that signaled discontinuation, and I would run from store to grabbing every case I could find. Of course now I would probably puke at the first taste of Carnival, seeing as how I've evolved into a microbrew beer snob.

Winter in Oregon is great for the seasonal ale-drinking elite. Deschutes Brewery produces the mainstay Jubilale, Pyramid's Snow Cap is a must have, and Full Sail's Wassail (my current favorite) must always be on hand. Other honourable mentions go to Cascade Brewery's Santa's Little Helper, Celebration Ale is pretty good. And I only recently discovered Mirror Mirror, Deschutes barley wine that approaches 10% in alcohol.

So now it's back to the ales and IPA's of spring and summer. I will survive somehow.