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Christmas Ale

Great Lakes Brewing Co. | www.greatlakesbrewing.com

Great Lakes Brewing Co.

2516 Market Ave.

Cleveland, Ohio 44113

(216) 771–4404

First brewed: Early 1990s

Style: Winter seasonal

Alcohol content: 7.5 percent

IBUs: 30

Available: For eight weeks starting just before Halloween on draft and in bottles

IF YOU LIKE THIS BEER, here are five other Ohio craft holiday beers to try:

• Thirsty Dog 12 Dogs of Christmas

• Fat Head’s Holly Jolly

• MadTree Thunder Snow

• The Brew Kettle Winter Warmer

• Willoughby Wenceslas

GREAT LAKES CHRISTMAS ALE isn’t just a beer. It’s a phenomenon. Despite being distributed only eight weeks of the year, Christmas Ale is the brewery’s top-selling brand, thanks to a fanatical following that goes bonkers for the rich combination of honey, cinnamon, and ginger.

Market research firm IRI once pegged it as the most popular craft beer brand in Ohio and one of the top 10 selling brands in the nation during the holiday season—even with its limited release.

The funny thing is that before Great Lakes launched the brand in the early 1990s—the brewery honestly can’t remember what year exactly—there really wasn’t a Christmas beer style.

Sure, a few breweries put out a holiday brew, such as Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale. But Great Lakes essentially invented the holiday spiced category. Today, nearly every brewery in northeast Ohio—and many beyond—offers up some variation of Christmas Ale, hoping to piggyback off the public’s seemingly insatiable appetite for a seasonal spiced brew.

Each year, Great Lakes hosts a massive release party, complete with a Santa Claus. There’s always a line out the door as people scramble to get the first taste of the season.

Hoisting a Christmas Ale has become a holiday tradition, as sacred to some as decorating the Christmas tree or singing carols.

The stories surrounding the beer are legendary. Great Lakes cofounder Pat Conway loves sharing the tale of a traveler who was sitting at the Great Lakes pub at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport sampling the beers. The man loved them. The bartender mentioned that he could buy six-packs to go. The man disappeared, returning later with a suitcase that he stuffed full with Christmas Ale for his journey home.