We drink a lot of craft beer around here, particularly around the holidays. I have a strong bias in favor of local beer, not just for the usual reasons — support local businesses, reduce the carbon footprint, and so on — but also because, with most beer, freshness really does count. While wonderful beers are being made abroad, by the time they get here you can never be sure they’re in decent condition.

But I couldn’t resist buying a tasting run of the entire line of Ridgeway Brewing’s holiday line, which I found by happenstance at the local Beverages and More. Here’s what I got:

I knew the names and art would delight my kids. I couldn’t know, but found out, that these brews were excellent. Turns out Ridgeway is a project of the brewer from a beloved brewery in Henley-on-Thames called Brakspear that recently shut down.

Anyway, the Ridgeway line — Bad Elf, Very Bad Elf, Seriously Bad Elf, Criminally Bad Elf, and Insanely Bad Elf — are escalatingly stronger beers, from 6 percent alcohol to over 11, ranging from a sort of British take on an American IPA (Bad Elf) to a monster barleywine (Insanely B.E.). I loved them all. The hops and barley varieties Ridgeway uses are quite different from the ingredients typically used by American microbreweries, and, after years of drinking West Coast beers, I enjoyed venturing afield.

(If you’re into beer, I recommend William Brand’s California Craft Beer newsletter and blog.)

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 6th, 2008 at 11:07 pm and is filed under Beer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.