# Holiday Cheers!


By Ben Ramsey

Published on December 23, 2006


It's become a personal tradition of mine to try various winter and holiday ales and lagers each year around this time. I've also found that many members of the PHP community are aficionados of good beer. Thus, my Christmas gift to the PHP community this year will be a list of recommended winter brews. I won't spend too much time describing the beers. Instead, I'll link to their pages at [Beer Advocate](http://www.beeradvocate.com/) (a PHP-driven site) for reviews.

* [Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale](http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/140/1904/), _Sierra Nevada Brewing Co._
* [Samuel Adams Winter Lager](http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/101/), _Boston Beer Company_
* [Samuel Adams Black Lager](http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/21300/), _Boston Beer Company_
* [Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig Ale](http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/1881/), _Boston Beer Company_
* [Bah Humbug! Christmas Ale](http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/160/14943/), _Wychwood Brewery Company_
* [Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale](http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/113/577/), _Samuel Smith Old Brewery_
* [Sweetwater Festive Ale 2006](http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/273/4161/), _Sweetwater Brewing Company_

You can tell I'm a big fan of the Samuel Adams beers. My favorites in this list are the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale and the Samuel Adams Winter Lager (always a winter favorite of mine). I was somewhat disappointed with the 2006 recipe for the Sweetwater Festive Ale; it was a bit too sweet for my liking, but I list it here because it's an Atlanta beer.

Feel free to leave a comment with your winter brew recommendations.

Cheers and Merry Christmas!