On the 6th day of Christmas, Julia recommended to me…

All the Way Up from Mast Landing Brewing Company (Westbrook, ME)

and

The Santa Clause (1994)!

Even though I laughed all the way through this video dragging the premise of The Santa Clause through the mud, it was one of my favorites as a youngin’. So, today we’re matching an old favorite film with a new favorite beer that I picked up from The Wine Press (not a sponsor, but could be *wink wink*) yesterday.

All the Way Up is a 4.8% ABV sour ale with raspberries, mangoes, and lactose. You might’ve been able to guess this from our previous emails’ saturation of Gose, but sours are some of my favorite beer styles. All the Way Up is no exception. It’s fruity, tart, extra fizzy with some sharp bubble action, and totally refreshing all the way down (see what I did there?). Plus, look how vibrant this brew is in the glass—just as red as Santa’s iconic coat!

I have a fascination with Santa lore, and any movie that interrogates the magic of a universe that has a real Santa has my heart. The Santa Clause took some whacky premises, entangled them in legal jargon, and ran with them for long enough to build an extended universe out into three feature films! For that reason, and the fact that Tim Allen’s character gets away some good old-fashioned Christmas manslaughter, The Santa Clause gets two thumbs up from me.

Neon Sails is a 6.3% ABV IPA made with Citra, Simcoe, and Azacca hops. All around, this brew is exactly what I want form an IPA: bright citrus flavors balanced out by some heady hop notes. At a bar in my hometown I once paid $13 for a single can of Neon Sails, thus landing The Port Hunter firmly on my naughty list.

Arizona Sun is an 8.1% ABV double dry-hopped double IPA made with Citra hops. If Neon Sails is a classic IPA, Arizona Sun is the EDM club remix. Mast Landing’s goal with this DDHDIPA (is this allowed?) was to create a beer that tasted like sipping on sunshine, which we could all use a little more of on these long winter days where the sun sets at like 3PM. If you’ve ever found yourself wishing for an IPA that took the haze-factor up to 11, Arizona Sun is as hazy as the details of Santa Claus’ contract with…the devil? Really though, who drew up these terms?

Can’t find any Mast Landing in your area? Pick up a couple of bottles that are designed to be aged like Judy the elf’s 1200-year-old hot chocolate recipe. A holiday project that’s a festive favorite among craft beer folks and is a great candidate for aging is Tröegs Independent Brewing’s Mad Elf!

Happy holidays ya filthy animals!