Buffalo Bayou Mud Turtle

Christmas has come and gone.  George Michael has left us.  2016's reign of terror continues.  What better time to drink the ills and toils away?  I drank all kinds of great stuff over the Christmas holiday, but the winner would have to be the Mud Turtle from Houston's Buffalo Bayou Brewing.  A Scotch ale weighing in at 9.2% ABV, the beer pours a dark, dark brown and smells wonderfully of caramel, dark fruits, molasses, and chocolate.  The chocolate is more prevalent in the flavor of the brew, dark and rich, meshing with the caramel notes and closing with a nutty, pecan finish.  This was a perfect beer to sip on while cooking Christmas dinner.  I need another.

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Goose Island Festivity Ale

It's Christmas time, so let's all drink some Christmas ales.  Festivity Ale from Chicago's Goose Island Brewery is a nice place to start.  A 7.7% brown ale doused with not-your-regular holiday spices, the beer pours a dark brown with frosty, off-white head and smells of malts, molasses, and hints of dark fruit.  The flavor is sweet, but not overly so, the caramel and dark fruit flavors meshing well with just a hint of bitterness on the back end.  Tasty.

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Karbach Fifth Anniversary Quintuple IPA

First off, to address the elephant in the room, Karbach Brewing is no longer one of the good guys, as they were acquired by AB-InBev.  Coming from the ass end of Generation X, i have been preconditioned to abhor "selling out," either in art, craft, or morals.  But, i also understand that everyone just wants to get paid, so it's kind of hard to fault the guys over at Karbach.  That being said, the beer behemoth that is AB-InBev spends tons of money and lobbies hard every year to keep the smaller craft breweries around the country down, so fuck all of those guys.  Even Karbach.  I'm going to miss their brews, so i'm going out with their Fifth Anniversary Quintuple IPA.  The beer pours a dark gold with a foamy white head and smells of malt, spice, bread, and hints of molasses and citrus.  Brewed with five different malts, five varieties of hops, and five different yeasts, the beer is pretty complex, a sweet and bitter IPA that weighs in at 13% ABV.  Karbach, i'm going to miss you.

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Brown Sabbath Symptom of the Universe Lager

Austin Latin psych-funk band Brownout's alter ego Brown Sabbath, a Latin psych-funk tribute to Black Sabbath, recently collaborated with the folks over at Independence Brewing to create the Symptom of the Universe, the Brown Sabbath Lager.  Naturally.  The beer pours a nice, crisp, light brown with a foamy white head and smells of malt, bread, and hints of caramel.  The flavor is heavy on the malty side, but light-bodied and easy to drink at 4.6% ABV.  This is certainly one to enjoy at a show.

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And, listen to the band's take on "Symptom of the Universe" from their new record, "Brown Sabbath Vol. II," which you can grab here, below.