73. A Case for Holiday Markets, Pop-Up Bars, and Special Releases, Even If You (Like Me) Identify as Grinch
We're talking holiday drinks and drink traditions; plus the TapRm x Hugging the Bar variety pack!; and tarot for--eek!--consequences to your actions.
Whether You Love the Holidays or Not, There Are Some Drink Traditions Worth Celebrating
The “most wonderful time of the year” is, for many of us, anything but. This won’t come as a shock to anyone, but you wouldn’t know that to scroll through the mass-produced, dead-behind-the-eyes, coated-with-a-slick-layer-of schlocky-glitter-sugar holiday media coverage and gift guides, or streaming service hero pages splashed with almost exclusively white women with sweeping barrel curls who are about to leave their hectic city lives behind for a flannel-clad widower with a young daughter and a ski lodge/tree farm/bakery/carpentry business. I don’t know about you, but I have no plans this year to hit my head on a Douglas fir and realize my career doesn’t fulfill me as much as drowning in a thickly knit blanket by the fire in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with a man who looks like a special Blake Shelton edition of Mr. Potato Head would.
That was never on the table for my holiday celebrations, but even some things that once were are now gone, too. I haven’t been religious since about the first or second grade, when I would carry the baby Jesus around in my coat pocket until it was time to plop him into his manger on Christmas Eve. (Catholic school kids are weird, have you heard?) But alongside a healthy dose of capitalistic frenzy that’s par for the Christmas course, I still treasured what some might too self-righteously deem the “meaningful” aspects of this season. My favorite, most treasured and anticipated traditions were taking a break during harried mall marathons with my mom over sickly sweet, seasonally flavored Dunkin Donuts coffee; baking batch after batch after batch of cookies, each one progressively worse in progressively more unrecognizable shapes as we became deliriously tired and cried laughing at our demented candy canes and stars; setting up our Victorian Christmas village and hiding the arms and legs that had snapped off some of the figures over the years in fluffs of cotton snow in little snowed-under scenes for my family to find, tempering the cloying cheer with a bit of our signature dark humor.
This all went away when we lost my mom, and I’m not at all saying that we don’t still have a lovely day together, but you know…the season, really, with all of those little rituals is gone. Last year, I wrote a lot about family stuff and complicated feelings around the holidays, so I’m not here to rehash this—instead, this year, I’d like to highlight what I do still look forward to during the holiday season. These are the things that still bring me some joy. Maybe I think I need to build this up with the whole family background so I don’t feel insecure about these seeming trivial and surface-level, so it’s understood that these new rituals are how I get through this time of year in a life where everything’s changed, but I don’t want to feel that way at all and no one should and that’s why we’re focusing on this today.
Because everyone deserves to find whatever makes them happy this time of year, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. Someone gathering with all 37 members of their family for the days surrounding Christmas might scoff at someone else getting excited about a seasonal beer or cookie or movie or event, but then that scoffer is a real asshat, fyi. Every single person enters December with a different set of circumstances, some good, some not so good, some complicated, and every one of those people deserves to embrace what gets them jazzed about the holidays, including completely ignoring them. For me, I do really lean into some hokey theatrics and basic af flavors, so I’m singing their praises here, at least in terms of drinks, as those are what’s relevant to this newsletter (I’ll save my case for why walking around Williams-Sonoma with free samples of hot cocoa, leaving with nothing more expensive than a tin of peppermint bark, is a holiday tradition for the win).
Christmas Markets & All Their Beverages
I fucking love a Christmas market. Usually one in Europe, because I still haven’t been to one here in the States that hits the same. New York versions are so crammed together you can barely move, and the crowd just sort of pushes you along so you can barely pull over and actually see anything for sale in the booths, and if you did, you’d realize that there are only like four booth concepts just repeated over and over. There’s usually no booze, and no, you certainly don’t need it to have a nice little holiday time, but in general, the beverage factor is a major point of difference between Europe and the US.
The beverages at European Christmas markets—which, by the way, are often at least somewhat thoughtfully spaced and usually in centuries-old cobblestone squares (not fair to blame the US for a lack of that, I realize)—are magic. Plain and simple. Gluhwein? Gluhbier? In Dresden in 2019, on a trip through Germany to Prague and Vienna where I think we hit a Christmas market every day (I have a problem, and boxes full of handmade ornaments and trinkets to prove it), I had my first zwickelbier one night, and a boozy marzipan punch the next. Marzipan punch! MARZIPAN PUNCH. Marzipan is my favorite food, more or less. Marzipan punch is served hot, like the gluhwein, in these pretty mugs you’ll find at these markets, painted with holiday scenes, for which you leave a deposit so you can return the mugs or keep one as a souvenir for like five Euros. It’s got an eggnog vibe, but obviously more almondy. If you’d like to make it at home, I can’t say I’ve tried this yet but here’s a recipe for Weihnachtspunsch. This one has wine in it, which the one I had did not, but it still sounds festive and sehr lecker!
Strolling aisles of booths stuffed with all things twinkling and sparkling and colorful and stocking up on things I’m sure are touristy to buy but don’t feel touristy to me, obviously, because they’re still novel and promise to delight my gift recipients back home, with a decorated mug full of steaming hot gluhwein warming my hands is peak paradise vibes for me. A little sweet, a little acidic and tannic, a little spicy, a lot cozy. And in Munich I found out you can do it with beer. I tried an IPA version out of curiosity, feeling skeptical—you wouldn’t think that would work, and you’d be right—but a cherry ale iteration went down a treat. PUNCH has this recipe from Portland, Oregon’s Cascade Brewing, with a kriek, and that sounds like a recipe for success indeed. Oh, and, conveniently tying together gluhwein and my Williams-Sonoma reference before, they sell jars of mulled wine spices for which I can happily vouch. They’re only $16 and a little goes a long way, and they make it really quick and easy to get some high quality, German Christmas market-level gluhwein going at home.
Holiday Pop-Up Bars
On the same wavelength of Christmas markets, I really get into holiday pop-up bars. The Miracle chain of these that has infiltrated dozens of cities worldwide has admittedly—unfortunately—made the whole thing feel a little manufactured and borderline sad theme restaurant, but the drinks are still great and do get you in the spirit. More importantly, there are still plenty of places working independently to transform their bars into winter wonderlands ranging from elegant to tacky. I still marvel at the work staffs must do to decorate every nook and cranny of their space. The drink menus, too, at these independent pop-ups are almost always stellar, applying actual expert-level mixology and artistry to drinks that celebrate holiday flavors in their different channels—spicy, piney, dark-fruity, sweet and creamy. There’s a great balance these places achieve, where drinks feel like a refined and adult way to tap into nostalgia and pure holiday joy.
There’s Sleyenda, for example, the holiday version of Brooklyn’s Leyenda, a Latin-inspired cocktail bar and restaurant owned by Julie Reiner and Ivy Mix. Every inch of the shelves behind the bar are gift-wrapped, everything twinkles—it’s fucking cute. And the drink menu riffs on everything from coquito to mezcal and coffee liqueur to an Aperol spritz-akin situation with Manischewitz. The iconic Dead Rabbit in lower Manhattan has captured a traditional Irish Christmastime by covering its homey pub interior with a bounty of lights and pine. “Jingle Jangle,” as the pop-up is called, flexes the bar’s renowned mixology mastery with drinks like After Eight—Dingle vodka, Coole Swan Irish Cream, Mr. Black, and mint—and The Gingerbread Man!—Buffalo Trace bourbon, blackstrap rum, gingerbread spices, and Lyle’s golden syrup.
Seasonal Beers
I like pumpkin beers and I like holiday beers. There will be no style snobbery ‘round these parts. The nearly never-ending range of styles and how they can capture a season is one of the reasons to love beer in the first place. There’s something so fun about taking home some special, festive bottles to your family—I’ve always found even your family members who think they don’t like beer will get excited about these, and it’s a fun way to wade into some beer chat and exploration.
Anchor’s Christmas Ale is a classic. And it brings up the fact that a lot of good holiday beers are welcome little bits of craft beer nostalgia and reminders of why we love some of these longer-running breweries. Another classic: Tröegs Mad Elf, natch. There’s Southern Tier’s 2XMAS Ale, and Evil Santa spiced milk stout from Virginia Beer Company.
Plus, there are non-holiday-specific beer releases this time of year that are still special, too, like ones that celebrate anniversaries or collabs, that are meant to age, savor, and share, that are absolutely perfect for bringing to special gatherings. It’s BQE time at Finback, for example. Named for the expressway passing through the two NYC boroughs Finback is located in, this is their “biggest celebration of the year and [most] coveted stout,” according to the brewery. Every year, they unveil a new vintage of their classic Chocolate Coffee base, started in 2015, along with several variants. Release day this year is Saturday, December 17, if you’re in New York—it’s taproom only. And if you do plan on going or want to send a friend, here’s more info from Finback:
“There are five variants this year, all of which are 14.8% ABV except for the last: Chocolate Coffee (cacao nibs and Invisible Force coffee), Double Nut Caramel (base plus walnut, hazelnut, caramel), Vietnamese Coffee (base plus Mostra Vietnamese Lotus coffee, condensed milk, and vanilla bean), Double Banana Coconut (base plus banana and coconut), and Double Barrel (aged one year in Heaven Hill barrels, aged one year in Pappy barrels; 17.1% ABV). All the coffee is used is roasted in-house at our Gowanus, Brooklyn facility, under our Invisible Force label. For this year's edition, we selected beans from third-generation, small-batch farmer Yuki Minami in Brazil. BQE will be available on draft and in 500ml bottles.”
I’ve still got my eyes peeled for new releases this year—let me know your favorites in the comments! I’ll start a chat about it, too.
The TapRm x Hugging the Bar Variety Pack
Speaking of special things to drink this time of year! I’ve partnered with TapRm again to do a variety pack, this time themed for the newsletter. The TapRm x Hugging the Bar Variety Pack centers on inclusivity in beer and beverage alcohol. It includes 12 different beers, hard seltzers, hard teas, hard ciders, and makgeolli, all from brands owned by people underrepresented in this industry. So, you’ve got a mix-pack of incredible (truly, a lot of these are my favorites) drinks from women-, BIPOC-, AAPI-, and/or LGBTQIA+-owned and/or operated breweries and brands. I kept holiday needs in mind when putting this list together, from flavors good for pairing to things that would be fun to share to drinks that would be a nice refreshing balance to heavier dishes.
The pack will include: Lunar’s Plum hard seltzer, Dyke Beer’s Chicha Ale, Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery’s Lager, Nectar’s Asian Pear hard seltzer, Crowns & Hops Brewing Company’s HBCU West Coast IPA, TALEA Beer Co.’s Al Dente Italian-style pilsner, Alementary’s Low Earth Orbit stout, Japas Cervejaria’s Ichi Um NEIPA, MAKKU’s Blueberry makgeolli, Gay Beer’s golden lager, Owl’s Brew Matcha boozy tea, and Right Bee Cider’s Dry. This pack makes a great gift, and when you or your recipient gets it, they can subscribe to the newsletter if they haven’t already to receive an exclusive 25% discount code for merch (don’t forget, there’s tons of new Hugging the Bar merch, including merch with Darby!) and free swag (there are also Darby stickers now!). (Oh, and if you do already subscribe and you get the variety pack and want the code/swag, just email huggingthebar@gmail.com and we’ll get you sorted.) It’s not live yet, but just keep an eye on my Twitter and Instagram, and I’ll update next issue!
Beer Tarot!
This week, I pulled Justice.
This card speaks to justice, duh, and fairness and truth. Now, this card can sometimes be extremely literal, like showing up when you’re awaiting a settlement or something—and if that’s the case for you, it also typically means fairness will prevail. But in more general terms, I think this is an interestingly timed card for the end of the year. Because it signals it’s time to take stock of your actions—in fact, outside forces might be doing that already. You might be getting rewarded—does anyone do year-end bonuses anymore?—for hard work, or punished in some way for being shitty (I’m not here to judge you, you know your sitch). In any case, evaluate your past year. Did you do things you wanted to do, valued doing, said you’d do? Things that helped you, your journey, and others—were you indeed good to other people? Take some time to think on this and how your actions have shaken out. Reflecting on this will help you think about who you want to be next year, how and why. The Justice card urges you to make decisions you’d proudly stand by.
What a perfect time to shout out the awesome Lady Justice Brewing, a brewery that definitely makes decisions to positively impact the community and industry. If you’re lucky enough to be in Colorado, go drink their beer and I’ll live vicariously through you!
This Week’s Boozy Media Rec
One of my favorite things I read this week (or should I say “caught up on” as I was a bit late on this) was Beth Demmon’s latest Prohibitchin’!, on Amie Ward. Amie’s radiant personality and determination shine through Beth’s words and is enough to rev you up and think about you’re contributing to make the beverage and hospitality scenes safer and more welcoming. Amie is the new Executive Director of Safe Bars, so is instrumental in helping make bars, breweries, venues, etc. safe spaces for all.
Ex-BEER-ience of the Week
When you read this, I will have been in Mexico for a week. I know I will have had many incredible ex-beer-iences by then, and of course cannot predict the future to know which one to feature. So, stay tuned for next week’s issue when I’ll dish on plenty, I’m sure.
Until next week, here’s Darby staring suspiciously(?) at another one of my favorite holiday releases, the holiday Clausthaler NA beer.
“I like pumpkin beers and I like holiday beers. There will be no style snobbery ‘round these parts. The nearly never-ending range of styles and how they can capture a season is one of the reasons to love beer in the first place.” Cheers to that!