2020 Beer Advent Calendar

2020 Beer Advent Calendar – We Did It Again

For Christmas 2019, after not being able to find a Beer Advent Calendar to our liking, we decided to make our own. This year it wasn’t even a question as to whether or not we would repeat this brilliant idea. So here, I present to you, the Grecobon 2020 Beer Advent Calendar.

Acquiring Said Beverages

Again we relied mostly on the store, Total Wine, for our purchases. We also decided to look to our own beer fridge. You see, we have a fridge in the garage that was meant to hold extra food, or party trays, but it’s become a beer fridge. Sometimes beers get lost in the shuffle and a well intended purchase is forgotten about.

While counting our purchases from Total Wine, I had the idea that we should finally have some of the beers we had purchased previously and never opened. One even was missing the label, so that became a mystery beverage. All we knew was the brewery name from the cap. The 2020 Beer Advent Calendar is quickly becoming an adventure, which may or may not kill us.

I jest.

Not Just Beer This Year

I did switch some things up though. An increasing interest in cocktails lead to some other purchases.

Total Wine has a variety of individual serving size bottles of various liquors. I chose to go with the flavored vodkas, assuming they would be easy to find mixers for.

There is also a Hard Seltzer thrown in there. Something I also acquired an interest in since last year.

Assembly

We decided to repeat last year’s assembly with a box that we got from Total Wine which previously held twelve bottles. The top was covered with wrapping paper. A number was then written on the wrapping paper over each spot to represent one of the twelve days.

The idea was then to repeat this for December 13-24 with our remaining beverages.

Having Fun With The Photos

Last year I took all but two photos on the kitchen counter. This year the challenge was added in of snapping pictures with various Christmas decorations around the house. We have three trees and made sure each one was included.

Some photos included what we happened to be watching that night, be it the Saturday Night Live Holiday Special or the Festivus episode of Seinfeld.

The glasses we used had chalkboard paint on them, so each night we took our chalk markers to think of a design and see what the other had come up with. We were able to get pretty creative with that as well, hieroglyphs, German, Spanish, binary, math equations….all creative ways to display the date.

2020 Beer Advent Calendar Stats:

Beers – 46
Vodkas – 4
Hard Seltzers – 1
Highest Ranked
- Lora – 5/5: Yuengling Lager. This one isn’t particularly fair though. I always give Yuengling 5/5, it’s the beer from our hometown.
- My next highest ranking was 4.5/5 which I actually gave to quite a few, a bit generous this past year. North Park Beer Company Secret Secrets IPA, Universal Brands Southern Style Sweet Tea Vodka, Oskar Blues Brewery Ten FIDY Imperial/Double Stout and Samuel Smith Winter Welcome Ale 2020-2021.
- Matt – Matt had a few that he found to be flawless. 5/5: Revision Brewing Company Disco Ninja New England IPA and Troegs Independent Brewing Nimble Giant Double IPA.
Lowest Ranked
- Lora – 3/5 Veil Vanilla Vodka. Perhaps I’m too generous all around if this was my lowest…or everything we chose just suited my tastes this year.
- Matt – .25/5, the lowest you can give: Einstok Icelandic Doppelbock Bock. I don’t understand as you’ll see below with my ranking.

Be sure to follow us on Untappd to track your beers, track our beers, see what we are drinking, and maybe fine some new beers!

Without further ado, I present to you the:

December 1

North Park Beer Company Secret Secrets IPA-Imperial/Double New England ABV 8.5% 30 IBU Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 4.5/5

Lagunitas Brewing Company High West-ified Stout-Imperial/Double Coffee ABV 12.2% 39 IBU Lora’s Rating: 4.5/5 Matt’s Rating: 4.25/5

December 2

Founders Brewing Co Big Luscious Stout-American ABV 7.8% 30 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.75/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.75/5

Veil Double Espresso Vodka ABV 35% Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.75/5
I added it to a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallow for a nice wintry delight.

December 3

Elysian Brewing Company Superfuzz Blood Orange Pale American Pale Ale ABV 6.4% 45 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.75/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.75/5

Dos Desperados Brewery Lager Magnifico Lager – Helles ABV 4.7% 20 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.5/5 Matt’s Rating: 3/5

Great Divide Brewing Company Hibernation Ale Old Ale ABV 8.7% 50 IBU Lora’s Rating: 4.25/5 Matt’s Rating: 4/5

December 4

Brewery Ommegang Neon Lights Hazy Session IPA ABV 4.3% 30 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.5/5 Matt’s Rating: 4/5

Kern River Brewing Company Pumps, Bumps & Rollers Kolsch ABV 4.8% n/a IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.5/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.5/5

December 5

AleSmith Brewing Company San Diego Pale Ale .394 Pale Ale ABV 6% 26 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.75/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.75/5

Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan Weihenstephaner 1516 Kellerbier/Zwickelbier ABV 5.6% 25 IBU Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 2.75/5

December 6

Port Brewing Company Hop-15 Ale| Imperial/Double IPA ABV 11% 182 IBU Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 4.5/5

Universal Brands Southern Style Sweet Tea Vodka ABV 35% Lora’s Rating: 4.5/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.75/5 Mixed with Diet Green Tea.

6 Down 18 To Go

December 7

Almanac Beer Company First Class Delivery Double New England IPA ABV 8% IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.25/5 Matt’s Rating: 4.75/5

Bitburger Brauerei Triple Hop’d Lager Lager – IPL ABV 5.8% 30 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.5/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.5/5

December 8

Revision Brewing Company Disco Ninja New England IPA ABV 7% 40 IBU Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 5/5

Hi-Wire Brewing German Chocolate Cupcake 10W-40 Stout-Imperial/Double Pastry ABV 8% Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 4/5

December 9

Guiness Open Gate Brewery Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Gingerbread Spiced Stout Imperial/Double Stout ABV 11%| Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 4/5

Uinta Clear Daze Juicy IPA IPA ABV 6% 40 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.75/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.5/5

December 10

AleSmith Brewing Company AleSmith For Hope New England IPA ABV 7.5% 15 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.5/5

Elysian Brewing Company Superfuzz Blood Orange Pale Pale Ale ABV 6.4% 45 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.75/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.75/5

December 11

North Park Beer Company Panoramic IPA ABV 6.5% 40 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.75/5 Matt’s Rating: 4/5

Oskar Blues Brewery Ten FIDY Imperial/Double Stout ABV 10.5% 65 IBU Lora’s Rating: 4.5/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.25/5

December 12

Brouwerij West Dog Ate My Homework Farmhouse Ale – Saison ABV 7% Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 4/5

Elysian Brewing Company Contact Haze New England IPA ABV 6% 39 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.75/5 Matt’s Rating: -/5 (didn’t rate)

Second Half December 13-24

December 13

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Celebration Fresh Hop IPA IPA ABV 6.8% 65 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.75/5 Matt’s Rating: 4/5

Cervecería de Colima Piedra Lisa Session IPA/India Session Ale ABV 4.5% 40 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.5/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.5/5

December 14

New Belgium Brewing Company Oakspire Strong Ale ABV 9% 20 IBU Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 4.25/5

AleSmith Brewing Company Forgeberry Sour ABV 4.9% 5 IBU Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.25/5

December 15

Founders Brewing Co. Solid Gold Lager – American ABV 4.4% 20 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.25/5

Yuengling Brewery Traditional Lager Lager – American Amber/Red ABV 4.5% 16 IBU Lora’s Rating: 5/5 Matt’s Rating: 1.5/5

December 16

Mikkeller Brewing San Diego Tiny Scissors Double IPA ABV8.2 % Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 4.5/5

Samuel Smith Winter Welcome Ale 2020-2021 Winter Ale ABV 6% 32 IBU Lora’s Rating: 4.5/5 Matt’s Rating: 3/5

December 17

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company Wild Little Thing Sour- Fruited ABV 5.5% 7 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.75/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.25/5

Veil Vanilla Vodka ABV 35% Lora’s Rating: 3/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.75/5
I added it to a cup of sparkling water with some blueberries and ice.

December 18

Buffalo Bill’s Brewery Black Pumpkin Oatmeal Stout Pumpkin/Yam Beer ABV 7.9% 40 IBU Lora’s Rating: 4.5/5 Matt’s Rating: 4.75/5

Ridgeway Brewing Criminally Bad Elf Barleywine ABV 10.5% Lora’s Rating: 3.75/5 Matt’s Rating: 3/5

Three Quarters of the Way Through

December 19

Dust Bowl Brewing Company Hops of Wrath IPA IPA ABV 6.6% 50 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.5/5 Matt’s Rating: 4.5/5

Veil Grapefruit and Rose Vodka ABV 35% Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.5/5
I added it to a glass of ice and Sprite Zero

December 20

Troegs Independent Brewing Nimble Giant Double IPA ABV 9% 69 IBU Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 5/5

Carlsberg Group Elephant Lager ABV 7.2% Lora’s Rating: 3.75/5 Matt’s Rating: 3/5

December 21

Almanac Beer Company Libra Charm Sour IPA ABV 7.4% Lora’s Rating: 4.25/5 Matt’s Rating: 4.5/5

Moscow Brewing Company Zhiguli Barnoe Pale Lager ABV 4.9% 20 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.25/5 Matt’s Rating: 1/5

December 22

Dust Bowl Brewing Company Therapist Triple IPA ABV 10.4% 100 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.25/5 Matt’s Rating: 4.5/5

Einstok Icelandic Doppelbock Bock ABV 6.7% Lora’s Rating: 4.25/5 Matt’s Rating: .25/5

December 23

Mikkeller Brewing San Diego Humle Nord: Galaxy Double New England IPA ABV 7.7% Lora’s Rating: 3.5/5 Matt’s Rating: 4.5/5

Samuel Smith Taddy Porter English Porter ABV 5% 32 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3.75/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.25/5

December 24

Coronado Brewing Company Electric Sunset Shandy/Radler ABV 6.5% Lora’s Rating: 4/5 Matt’s Rating: 2.75/5

Lost Coast Brewery Winterbraun American Brown Ale ABV 8% 34 IBU Lora’s Rating: 4.25/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.5/5

Bonus Christmas Beverage:

December 25

Bottle Logic Brewing The Fourth Wall Sweet Milk Stout ABV 10% 20 IBU Lora’s Rating: 3/5 Matt’s Rating: 4.5/5

Belching Beaver Passion Fruit & Guava Hard Seltzer Hard Seltzer ABV 5.5% Lora’s Rating: 4.25/5 Matt’s Rating: 3.75/5

Until Next Year

For Christmas 2021, we will have our shipping tubes with labels for each day. We plan to start purchasing brews in September, but let’s see if we remember to do that. The chalkboard, different design each day, idea was fun, but I’m not sure if we will find any new ideas. I have some other thoughts in mind regarding beverage receptacles.

The 2020 Beer Advent Calendar was fun once again, and we will continue to do so year after year. Do you get an Advent Calendar? Do you make one of your own, be it drinks, snacks, toys, pet treats, or anything else? Let us know what other kinds we should try outside of beverages!

Get in the holiday spirit any time of year by checking out our alcohol based calendars over the years: