Christmas cheers.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

Think of it as liquid Christmas.

For some of us, nothing says holidays like beer, and no other time of year produces such a bonanza of gifts in a bottle. Especially here in the Northwest, the center of the American craft brewing universe, where just about everyone who buys barley by the truckload turns out a special beer for Christmas.

They come in all colors, sizes and styles, from amber ales to dark, head-spinning barley wines.

Some quick research would easily turn up more than three dozen different Christmas beers coming out of brew pubs and microbreweries in Oregon and Washington. And easily 15 of those are bottled and distributed widely enough to end up in a grocery store cooler near you.

To beeristas, that's a Christmas party waiting to happen. But for your average beer drinker, it's easy to mumble a "bah, humbug" as you roll past a beer aisle suddenly populated by unfamiliar brew.

Don't let the holiday excess discourage you, though. Opening a Christmas beer you've never tried is kind of like opening a present from someone you've never met: each one is different, and each is a surprise.

What makes figuring out holiday beers such a challenge is that "Christmas beer" is not an officially recognized or widely agreed-on style. It's not like, say, a maibock, which also is hooked to a specific time of year (spring) but which sticks to a fairly narrow flavor profile.

Christmas beers, on the other hand, run the gamut. They can be straw-colored and hoppy or dark as night and as malty as a ton of toffee, whatever the brewmaster wants it to be.

But there is something that sets them apart.

"One common thread that holds them all together is that it's something a little bit out of the ordinary," said Jim Parker, president of the Oregon Brewers Guild and editor of Zymurgy magazine. "I think a lot of brewers view it as a way of saying thanks to their customers," he said.

That's pretty much how the whole thing got started. While some European breweries have been making special holiday beers for decades if not centuries, it's not something that really caught on in this country until 1975.

That's when microbrewing pioneer Fritz Maytag released Our Special Ale as a kind of reward to those who helped make his Anchor Brewing Co. the first really successful micro since Prohibition.

It's hard to classify this forerunner of the style because Maytag creates a new recipe each year; this year's version is different from each of the 29 that came before it.

But just as the rest of the country eventually caught up with Maytag's appreciation of small-brewery beer, they caught up with his idea of a Christmas beer as well.

Many of the early versions had various spices as their special ingredient, but over time, most have evolved toward a dark, malty style of beer sometimes known as the winter warmer.

The official style guide would call these American strong ales or maybe old ales if they've aged a while, but Parker notes that in the Maytag tradition of experimentation, most push the envelope on definitions.

"This is not a time of year to adhere strictly to styles," he said. "It's no time to be a style Nazi."

That's why winter warmers range from Alaskan Brewing Co.'s Alaskan Winter Ale with its hint of spruce, to Golden Valley Brewery's Tannen Bomb, with its toasty 8 percent alcohol content. And Ebenezer Ale from Bridgeport Brewing Co. and Wassail from Full Sail add a hint of spice to their winter warmers.

Some of the most well-known Christmas beers fall into the widespread arms of winter warmers: Deschutes Jubelale, Pyramid Snow Cap and Redhook Winterhook. Their alcohol content runs about 6 or 7 percent by volume, and while malt dominates, the hops don't get lost.

But a few Christmas beers break out of the pack and go for more gusto. They load up on the malts, producing higher-alcohol offerings that beer geeks describe as "big."

"They're usually bigger in malt, bigger in hops, just more of everything," Parker said. "It's really that giving spirit of the holidays. A lot are more malt monsters, but some are hop monsters," he said.

A number of Christmas beers fall into the malt monster category. Barley wines are among the strongest of beers, and while they are a style unto themselves and not necessarily made with Christmas in mind, they often appear just as the dark, cold winter begins to settle in. One barley wine that does fall into the Christmas beer category is Doggie Claws from Portland's Hair of the Dog Brewing Co. Doggie Claws gets the red-line prize for strength, clocking in at 11.5 percent alcohol by volume.

Other Christmas beers with a kick include MacTarnahan's Jack Frost Winter Doppelbock and the Tannen Bomb from McMinnville's Golden Valley, both at 8 percent. The Snow Cap and Winterfish, from Olympia's Fish Brewing Co., are 7 percent solutions.

Winterfish is among the relatively few Christmas beers for those who'd like some hops in their stockings. Along with the well-known Celebration Ale from Sierra Nevada and Wreck the Halls from Full Sail, these concoctions fall more or less into the India pale ale category, despite sometimes being darker than the style gurus allow.

But that's the point. Christmas beers are meant to be a little different, a little special. And the only way to find out which one would look best under your tree is to give them a try.

"With Christmas beers, there's one rule and one rule only: experiment and enjoy," Parker said. "Try everything. You'll find some you love; you'll find some you might not. Try them all and find your own favorite."

SUDS SAMPLER

Christmas beers come in an assortment of styles. Here's just a sample of Northwest beers to guide your grocery store seasonal shopping.

Winter warmers (strong ale): Alaskan Christmas Ale, Anchor Our Special Ale, Grant's Deep Powder Ale, Bridgeport Ebenezer Ale, Deschutes Jubelale, Full Sail Wassail, Golden Valley Tannen Bomb, MacTarnahan's Bobby Dazzler, MacTarnahan's Mac Frost Winter Ale, Pyramid Snow Cap, Redhook Winterhook

India Pale Ales: Full Sail Wreck the Halls, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, Fish Winterfish

Bocks: MacTarnahan's Jack Frost Winter Doppelbock

Barley wines: Hair of the Dog Doggie Claws

Others: Hale's Wee Heavy Winter Ale (Scotch ale), Rogue Yellow Snow Ale (American amber ale), Rogue Santa's Private Reserve (American amber ale)

On tap only: McMenamins Kris Kringle, Steelhead Heat Miser, Terminal Gravity FestiveAle

CAPTION(S):

Craft brewers come up with special gifts at Christmas. There are dozens of beers that are brewed only during the holidays each year.