I love Christmas beer! Many of my favorites are imported from Belgium at premium prices. There are a couple secrets to getting Christmas beer at discount prices – up to 50% off. Here’s how.
Most commercial beers are meant to be consumed fresh. Fortunately, many Christmas beers are not like most commercial beers. Because they are made with a large amount of malts, are bottle conditioned, and have a 8% or higher ABV, many Belgian Christmas beers are made for aging.
When aging a Belgian Christmas beer, the flavor evolves. Strong Ales tend toward sweeter, sherry-like qualities. Quads exhibit raisin, cherry, leather, and dark fruit notes. In both cases, spice flavors integrate with candi sugar and caramel maltiness.
Age beers in a cool, dark place. You’re looking for beers like: St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, Corsendonk Christmas Ale, Scaldis Noel, Pére Noel, Stille Nacht, and others. (Click the links for my reviews.) My regular practice is to purchase beers one Christmas season and drink them the next. I like the flavors integrated, rather than stark as they sometimes are on release.
Purchase Your Christmas Beer Now At A Discount
With aging in mind, January and February are the perfect times to look for deep discounts on Christmas beer. Retailers are making room for Spring releases and see Christmas beers as very seasonal. That works well for the discount shopper!
Everything in the photo above I purchased at Total Wine & More. Discounts were 25-50%, most around 40%.
The 3-liter bottle of Corsendonk Christmas Ale is a party favorite. My store retailed it for $79.95. Today, I bought two for $49.95 each. The specially packaged 330ml six-packs of Corsendonk were $9.99 each. And you get a free glass. St. Bernardus usually doesn’t get discounted. Scaldis Noel and Pére Noel are less recognizable to the average beer crowd, thus, I see them discounted each year. Hidden gems!
The best place to find discounted Christmas beer is a large “warehouse” beer store. They deal in volume and are more willing to apply discounts to move seasonal items than are smaller stores. I’ve seen craft beer specialty bottle shops who know these beers are age-able and store them in order to offer them at a premium next season.
Happy hunting!
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