by Brian Beauchemin

As thoughts of turkey dinners and holiday side dishes begin to enter our minds, local breweries add to our holiday celebrations with releases incorporating seasonal combinations of spices, fruits, and other ingredients. Whether you’re searching for that special beer to enjoy with your festive meals or sharing with friends around the fireplace, Charlotte’s breweries are offering a variety of holiday options.

Unless otherwise stated, all products are already available in taprooms and/or in the local market. 

Birdsong Brewing

The always-popular Mexicali Stout releases on November 30. Warm coffee and cinnamon complement a smooth chocolate flavor in the 5.8% ABV full-bodied stout. With a hint of chile heat from fresh habaneros, in tandem with cacao nibs and locally roasted coffee from Central Coffee Co., the brew captures everything you would expect from a traditional mole.

St. Tuber is a Belgian-style Abbey ale brewed with North Carolina sweet potatoes, nutmeg, and cloves. Although prior releases included bourbon barrel-aged versions, this year’s release brings the beer back to its original, non-barrel-aged form. The 7% ABV brew sports a medium-full body with a smooth finish and is reminiscent of Grandma’s sweet potato pie – a solid complement to your Thanksgiving celebrations.

Blue Blaze Brewing

S’Mores Blonde Ale is a vanilla blonde ale utilizing vanilla beans and cocoa nibs. The 4.5% ale’s medium body is supported by rich notes of chocolate and vanilla, while biscuit malt provides hints of lightly toasted graham cracker. Releasing November 22, taproom only, with cans, growlers, and two draft versions, including nitro.

DreamChaser’s Brewery

The 5.4% ABV Vienna-style lager, Vienna Visions, has a solid crispness but with a malty backbone of flavor. The caramel-colored lager provides light, bready, and toasted caramel malt notes balanced by subtle herbal and floral hop notes.

Baen Sidhe, a 9.1% ABV Imperial Oatmeal Stout, was released on November 4 – International Stout Day. This smooth stout boasts roasted and dark chocolate notes. The addition of toasted coconut gives a light, nutty complexity in the background without a heavy coconut flavor.

Releasing November 17, CranDa is a cranberry Berliner weisse. The 4% ABV kettle-soured wheat ale was brewed with real cranberry purée for a slightly sweet yet refreshingly tart holiday flavor.

Wysacky is a 5.1% ABV milk stout to be released around Thanksgiving (exact date TBD). The roasted barley and chocolate malts in this stout create a dark but smooth base to pair with creamy lactose for a sweet balance to its roasted flavors.

NoDa Brewing

Hillbilly Gibberish is a 5.7% ABV brown ale brewed with molasses and black walnuts. The beer provides a slight malty roast character on an otherwise clean brown ale and is a collaborative brew with the winner of the 2023 Isabella Santos Foundation silent auction.

Whispering Pines is a West Coast IPA brewed with Simcoe, El Dorado, Centennial, and Strata hops. The 6.6% ABV IPA has an upfront hoppiness with an assertive bitterness on the backend. This beer was named for a location in the novel “Sedona” by North Carolina debut author Kerry Freeman. The beer will be released during a book pre-sale, meet-the-author launch event hosted at the brewery’s North End taproom on November 10 at 7 p.m.

Apple Pie Pastry Sour is a 5% ABV kettle-sour brewed with lactose. This beer has a light amber color and is spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Fermented on apple purée and conditioned on vanilla beans to round out the taste of the delicious fall classic dessert! Releases November 17 in their North End taproom.

Releasing the day after Thanksgiving, November 24, Cheerwine Holiday Ale is a spin on their ever-popular Cheerwine brew. This 5.2% ABV wheat ale has a touch of cherry and pineapple and is available for pre-order through midnight November 12. Draft is available at both taproom locations, but cans are exclusively available at the North End Taproom.

Captain Peanut Butter’s Chocolate Revenge returns December 1. This chocolate peanut butter porter is back with a vengeance and has a hefty 9.2% ABV. Available on draft and in cans, this big, malty, smooth imperial porter was brewed with a massive load of cocoa nibs and roasted peanut butter, providing a chocolate-rich twist to the classic porter style.

Olde Mecklenburg Brewery

The annual release of the brewery’s holiday beer, Yule Bock, releases on November 17. The 7% ABV German-style bockbier sports a deep amber color with a hint of holiday crimson derived from a combination of premium European barley malt. Noble Bavarian hops provide just the right balance for this full-bodied, malty-smooth winter lager. Limited packaged distribution occurs in OMB’s Santa’s Little Helper 12-pack with 16-ounce four-packs available only at the OMB Brauhaus.

Southern Strain

Südlicher Schwarzbier is 5.6% ABV German dark lager releasing November 21. Made with 100% North Carolina malt from Carolina Malthouse and Epiphany Craft Malt. The schwarzbier shows hints of roasted chocolate and a slightly malty backbone alongside a crisp, dry finish.

Triple C Brewing

The brewery’s winter seasonal, White Blaze, is a 6% ABV spiced winter ale. The brew pours deep amber in color with welcoming aromas and flavors of freshly ground cinnamon and vanilla beans – a nice complement to a cold winter.

Cranberry Orange Crumble Sherbet is a sweet yet tart 6% ABV fruited sour. Copious amounts of cranberries and sweet oranges dance along with cinnamon dust and vanilla to provide a unique winter-time sour.

Releasing November 17, Irregardless is an easy-drinking 4.7% ABV amber lager with notes of toasted bread, light caramel, and chocolate.

Brewed in celebration of the holidays, Cheers! is 6.5% ABV American winter IPA. This IPA utilizes the old-school hops Centennial, Cascade, and Chinook, showcasing citrus flavors to match with a sweet malt backbone for balance. Available in both drafts and cans November 22.

Wooden Robot

Here, Mosie! Is a 100% mosaic-hopped West Coast IPA. This dank, tropical fruity 6.5% ABV IPA was hopped entirely with Mosaic, providing flavors and aromas bursting with papaya, guava, and pineapple, and a slight lingering bitterness for a balanced, crisp finish.

Roselle, a 6% ABV hibiscus wild ale, was aged in an oak foeder for over a year and provides fruity, tart and floral notes. The aged beer was infused with local Roselle hibiscus calyx (the calyx protects the flower bud before bloom), complimenting the wild culture with cranberry and lemon notes.

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