Christmas craft beers – what’s new in the festive beer world this month

December. When did that happen? It seems only yesterday we were basking in the summer sun and enjoying the festival season. But worry not the dark nights and festive vibes bring presents, joy, happiness and festive beer!

This month we’ve gone Christmas can crazy. A brewery local to us are absolutely destroying it in the can are Gipsy Hill. 3, 4 or 5 specials each month we couldn’t resist there latest offerings and bring you 6 new specials in can. They are all spot on but our pick of the bunch is the Christmas Kriek. Not just because it’s festive but because GH are nailing sour/fruited beers at the moment. This follows hot on the heels of their mixed berry sour and this is just as good, if not better. We’ve never had a cherry beer with the flavour of real cherries so prominent behind the tart sour front. An excellent winter companion to any fireside evening. Pure Christmas. You don’t see enough White IPAs these days so Momotaro is a lovely addition to their range and Baller, Swamper and Codebreaker are big, juicy fantastic brews – but all very different. Welcome back Gipsy Hill – pop these in your craft beer subscription box now!

We’ve also badgered the breweries at Seven Sisters, One Mile End, Big Hug and BBNo for some wares old and new and there’s some excellent picks in can from them all. Juice is the main player here and, let’s be honest, you can’t beat a bit of Brew by numbers. Soft, sessionable and now in alu 27|01 is outstanding. Don’t miss out one of the most interesting two beers this month in the shape of the Amaretti Impy from Canopy and Buddha’s sour ale. Both something for the adventurous.

Don’t worry we haven’t gone all can-mad. In bottle we have two smashing hop-beasts from Mondo. Both showcase different hops in very different ways but both very modern and different enough to stand out in a crowd – Green Monstah and Hongi are fresh in.

We also have some of the last bottles from BBNo including an IPA 05|01. One of the original craft beers from them and one that is already selling fast. A month can’t go by without grabbing some utterly excellent Pressure Drop beers. Every month they just get better and better and three new brews from them this month scream hoppiness. Try one, maybe two, definitely three. Not to be missed.

We’ve rounded up this months new beers with a bit of pudding too. Who doesn’t like ice cream? Weird Beards Choco Azimut is a mint choc ice cream pale. Yum indeed.