KRIS KRINGLE

Just in time for the holidays, November 20th marks the release of this year's McMenamins Traditional Yuletide Ale, Kris Kringle. The busy-as-elves McMenamins brewers have created another wonderful present for your taste buds this holiday season. The 2009 version of Kris Kringle is a hearty and robust ale with a big and bold malt complexity as well as an intense and flavorful hop profile. This "winter warmer" highlights the rich, toasty, aromatic and chocolaty malt flavors as its very sturdy foundation. Generous amounts of four different hop varieties were added in five different additions that will deliver a magnificent hop assault. There's still some ginger and cinnamon added into the batch but the spices are a little more subdued than in years' past. McMenamins brewers hope you enjoy this year's version of our old Holiday favorite, Kris Kringle. It should pour concurrently with Sleepy Hollow Nut Brown. Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year!

Malts: GWM Pale Ale Malt, GWM Munich Malt, GWM Wheat Malt, GWM 15L Crystal Malt, GWM 120L Crystal Malt, Baird's Chocolate Malt

Hops: Nugget (Bittering & Flavor), Chinook (Flavor), Cascade (Flavor & Aroma), Perle (Flavor & Aroma)

Alcohol by Volume: 6.84%

Available at all McMenamins through December 24.

"There was a contagion in the very air that blew from that haunted region; it breathed forth an atmosphere of dreams and fancies infecting all the land."

-Washington Irving,
‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Time has slipped by again and we are confronted with a myriad of changes in the seasons of autumn and winter. Beautiful arrays of different colored foliage have magically appeared on the trees. Chillier weather has started to encompass our lives day by day. It's time to start burning wood in the fi replace to drive the cold from the extremities. It's also the time of year to savor the potion of your choice to warm the bones and soothe the soul. And one can't think of anything better than the McMenamins classic seasonal brew, Sleepy Hollow Nut Brown.

Sleepy Hollow Nut Brown's chestnut color and medium body will cast an otherworldly spell over you. The complex malt character, well balanced with Chinook and US Golding hops, will have you walking in a continual reverie. Legend has it that Ichabod Crane downed a few Nut Brown Ales listening to local ghost tales and scary legends at the Van Tassel merry-making party before his fateful trip home. Be watchful and clear-headed on your way home lest you begin to grow fanciful, see shapes and shadows in the night and hear things in the howling wind. It may just be your imagination running away with you or it very well may be the Headless Horseman on his fi re-breathing black stallion following you!

Malts: Great Western Pale Ale Malt, Great Western Munich Malt, Great Western Flaked Barley, Great Western 15L Crystal Malt, Great Western 120L Crystal Malt, Baird Chocolate Malt, Baird Roast Material

Hops: Nugget (Bittering), US Golding (Flavor and Aroma)

Original Gravity: 1.050; Terminal Gravity: 1.011
Alcohol by Volume: 5.03%
Calories: 215 per pint

Available at all McMenamins October 31 through January 31.