Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody! Here we are at the end of the year and the end of December means it’s time for my next beer round up post.
Thanks to some very generous friends and family members, I got a lot of new beers for Christmas. Plus there were some left overs beers from the recent US trip and the World Cup Beer Box. And of course, some from previous beer deliveries so there was an interesting mix of beers this month.
December 2022: Beer Stats
| Total | 81 |
| Countries | 18 |
| Breweries | 60 |
| Collaboration Beers | 4 |
| Styles | 33 |
Total Beers
The total, while high, is not the highest it’s ever been. Most of those were had over the Christmas week. I don’t have a car so Christmas time is spent traveling between families via trains. That means when your mum buys you a big box of mixed beers and then gives you a big box of BrewDog beers from your uncle, you either drink as many as you can or you’re stuck traveling with them.
The Countries
As expected, most of the beers this month came from England. Not surprising as most of that big beer box from my mum were English beers, as were the beers from the World Cup Beer Box. Scotland came next as not only did I get a BrewDog box, but I also got some Isle of Skye beers from my step sisters.
| England | 42 |
| Scotland | 14 |
| Wales | 5 |
| USA | 4 |
| Netherlands | 3 |
| Belgium | 2 |
| Croatia | 2 |
| Germany | 2 |
| Spain | 2 |
| Australia | 1 |
| Austria | 1 |
| China | 1 |
| Hong Kong | 1 |
| Ireland | 1 |
| Mexico | 1 |
| New Zealand | 1 |
| Norway | 1 |
| Sweden | 1 |
The Breweries
It should come as no surprise that the top of the breweries list is BrewDog. We did drink the majority of that BrewDog box over Christmas and there were also a couple in the box my mum got me. It’s been a long time since I’ve had that many BrewDogs!
| BrewDog (Scotland) | 9 |
| By The Horns Brewing Co (England) | 4 |
| Tiny Rebel Brewing Co (Wales) | 3 |
| Alphabet Brewing Company (England) | 2 |
| Brew York (England) | 2 |
| Buxton Brewery (England) | 2 |
| Crafty Brewing (England) | 2 |
| Fourpure BrewingCo. (England) | 2 |
| Isle of Skye Brewing Company (Scotland) | 2 |
| Mad Squirrel Brewery (England) | 2 |
| Magic Rock Brewing (England) | 2 |
| Pretty Decent Beer Co (England) | 2 |
| Samuel Smith (England) | 2 |
| Utopian Brewery Ltd (England) | 2 |
| Vocation Brewery (England) | 2 |
| 71 Brewing (Scotland) | 1 |
| Amundsen Brewery (Norway) | 1 |
| Basqueland Brewing (Spain) | 1 |
| Beavertown (Englands) | 1 |
| Bianca Road Brew Co (England) | 1 |
| Brauhaus Bevog (Austria) | 1 |
| Brew By Numbers (England) | 1 |
| Bristol Beer Factory (England) | 1 |
| BRLO (Germany) | 1 |
| Brouwerij de Molen (Netherlands) | 1 |
| Brouwerij St. Bernardus (Belgium) | 1 |
| Brouwerij Tje (Netherlands) | 1 |
| Cloudwater Brew Co. (England) | 1 |
| Compania Cervecera Hercules (Mexico) | 1 |
| Delirium Huyghe Brewery (Belgium) | 1 |
| Garage Beer Co. (Spain) | 1 |
| Glamorgan Brewing Co (Wales) | 1 |
| Gweilo Beer (Hong Kong) | 1 |
| Hyllie Bryggeri (Sweden) | 1 |
| Jiddler’s Tipple (England) | 1 |
| Jubel (England) | 1 |
| Kent Falls Brewing Co. (USA) | 1 |
| Marble Beers Ltd (England) | 1 |
| Microbrew British Craft Beer Selection (England) | 1 |
| Oedipus Brewing (Netherlands) | 1 |
| Outlier Cartel (New Zealand) | 1 |
| Paulaner Brauerei (Germany) | 1 |
| Radical Road (Scotland) | 1 |
| Rocky Ridge Brewing Co (Australia) | 1 |
| Ronin Fermentation Project (USA) | 1 |
| Round Corner Brewing (England) | 1 |
| Rye River Brewing Company Iireland) | 1 |
| Seven Bro7hers Brewery (England) | 1 |
| Siren Craft Brew (England) | 1 |
| Stewart Brewing (Scotland) | 1 |
| T.J. Morris (England) | 1 |
| The Almost Heaven Brewing Company (Wales) | 1 |
| The Garden Brewery (Croatia) | 1 |
| The Veil Brewing Co. (USA) | 1 |
| Toast Ale (England) | 1 |
| Torch & Crown (USA) | 1 |
| Topsham Brewery (England) | 1 |
| Tsingtao (China) | 1 |
| Varionica (Croatia) | 1 |
| Wiper and True (England) | 1 |
Styles
You can tell I had a lot of beer box beers this month as my most drunk style is an IPA – session. While I don’t mind the occasional session, it’s not a beer I pick out often. The beer box selection has also meant Fruit Beers are near the top of the list. Again, this is not one I pick often. Never really been a huge fan of fruity beers.
| IPA – Session | 11 |
| IPA – American | 9 |
| Pale Ale – American | 8 |
| Lager – Helles | 5 |
| Lager – Pale | 4 |
| Stout – Pastry | 4 |
| Fruit Beer | 3 |
| Stout – Oatmeal | 3 |
| Winter Ale | 3 |
| Brown Ale – American | 2 |
| IPA – Other | 2 |
| Pale Ale – New England / Hazy | 2 |
| Pilsner – German | 2 |
| Pilsner – Other | 2 |
| Stout – English | 2 |
| Bitter – Session / Ordinary | 1 |
| Blonde Ale | 1 |
| Golden Ale | 1 |
| IPA – Belgian | 1 |
| IPA – English | 1 |
| IPA – New England / Hazy | 1 |
| Lager – Dortmunder / Export | 1 |
| Lager – Vienna | 1 |
| Non-Alcoholic Beer – Other | 1 |
| Pale Ale – Other | 1 |
| Porter – American | 1 |
| Porter – English | 1 |
| Porter – Other | 1 |
| Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy | 1 |
| Stout – Imperial / Double Milk | 1 |
| Stout – Milk / Sweet | 1 |
| Stout – Other | 1 |
| Wheat Beer – Witbier / Blanche | 1 |
My Favourite Beers
As always, this section is for all the beers I rated a 4 or higher on Untappd. You can tell I had most of my beers from beer boxes. While most have a good selection of beers, they never had any really great craft beers so they never get the top marks.
What I do love about my December top beers though is how Christmasy they are. Very fitting.
4.00 – Brew York – Nightmare of Brew York 2022
A very nice stout with flavours of chocolate, biscuit and gingerbread.
4.00 – Brouwerij St. Bernardus – Christmas Ale
I Love St. Bernardus beers and I love good Christmas beers so of course I enjoyed this one!
4.00 – Delirium Huyghe Brewery – Delirium Noel / Christmas
When I ordered this one I was warned it was a higher price than the other beers on tap. I took a risk and ordered it anyway and I’m so glad I did! It tasty spicy and nutty and just like Christmas in a glass.
Beers Worth Mentioning
Just because these didn’t make it into the top spot, doesn’t mean they weren’t worth mentioning! Here are the beers that just missed out on the top:
- Brauhaus Bevog – Kramah
- Cloudwater Brew Co – Ho Ho Hazelnut
- Gweilo Beer & Rocky Ridge Brewing Co – Choco Rock Stout
- Isle of Skye Brewing Company – Cuillin Beast
- Magic Rock Brewing – Saucery
- Siren Craft Brew – Broken Dream
Where My December 2022 Beers Came From
My most asked question on social media is where do my beers come from so in this section you can easily see where I got my December 2022 beers from. This month there were no beers from a brewery visit or brewery delivery but there are some beers from taprooms as well as some deliveries.
Beer Deliveries
World Cup Beer Box
When I saw the Facebook Ads promoting this, I was so excited for it. The idea is that there is a beer for each country and every time someone gets eliminated, you drink their beer. Sounds fun right? Unfortunately the company spent way to much effort on promoting it all over social media and not enough time keeping up with demand. By the time I got mine the group stage was over which meant half the countries had been eliminated. Plus, the beers weren’t great. Some were pretty awful. And to top it off, the customer service was terrible. Can’t say I’ll ever use this company again now.
Beer52 Advent Calendar
This was the first time I didn’t get the Craft Metropolis Advent Calendar. Unfortunately I was too slow and they sold out. But this did give me a chance to try a different advent calendar. I’ve heard great things about Beer52 but they don’t have a beer shop. Only beer subscription boxes. With my shift work that sometimes takes me out of the city and all the traveling I’ve never wanted a subscription box. The advent calendar gave me a great excuse to try Beer52 without having to subscribe to a monthly service.
Taprooms
Beer Merchants
I’m lucky that Beer Merchants is right by one of the places I work and one of my work friends had their leaving drinks here before he left us for snowy Sweden. So of course being here just before Christmas I couldn’t resist checking out their fridges to find some good Christmas style beers.
Carmine Street Beers
This was a nice tap room we found in New York that we took some beers home with us. It was nice to have them in our fridge at home.
There you have it, a round up of all my December 2022 beers. While I didn’t leave the country, I was still able to try some great beers from across the world at home. Thank you to all my friends and family who bought me delicious beers over Christmas. Can’t believe 2022 is now over!
More Beer Posts
If you love craft beers as much as I do then you might be interesting in some of these beer posts…
- November 2022 Beers
- Why You Need A Beer Advent Calendar
- Svalbard Brewery: Beer Tasting On Top Of The World
- Beer Tasting at Home With Craft Metropolis
- Taking The Meantime Brewery Tour
- The Ultimate Beer Gift Guide
- Beer Tasting at Killarney Brewery
- Taking The Anchor Brewery Tour
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