It's session day again. The first Friday of every month for a whopping 58 months now beer bloggers around the world have written on the same topic. This month's edition was chosen by Beersay:

“A Christmas Carol“. The idea for me was based loosely around the visits of three ghosts to Ebenezer Scrooge, but relayed in a post about the beers of Christmas past, present and future. What did you drink during Christmas holidays of old, have you plans for anything exciting this year and is there something you’d really like to do one day, perhaps when the kids have flown the nest? Do you have your own interpretation, was Scrooge perhaps a beer geek? Or maybe it’s all one day. What will you drink Christmas morning, Christmas afternoon and what will you top off the holiday with that evening?

A great topic. One in which you can move your elbows about. It inspires me to think about where the blog has been, is and will be. I now have 23 posts under one of those categories to the lower left of winter and Christmas beer. Have I actually made sense of what that heading means?

Christmas past. Going back to the beginning, in 2004 and again in 2005 I wrote post about collections of strong, winter and Christmas beers. Highlights seem to have been Harvey's Elizabethan Ale and La Choulette De Noël. Can you believe Rouge Santa's Private Reserve Ale was $3.79 USD for a 22 oz bomber? Beers past were pretty damn good as far as I can tell. But was I? Not so sure about this sentence: "[a]ll I get is one recessed biscuity note which sits oddly, leaving an impression of a big bitter arugula salad with one animal cracker crumbled on top." Not so bad. A little sarcastic yet accurate referencing non-beer words to describe beer flavours. Yet a little precious, no? And did I drink all that to write that on post on those Yuletide evenings? Intemperance abounded at Christmas past.

Christmas present A very fine Christmas present is the state of the Christmas present this year. If I lost you with that punnery, I will let you know that the photo above was taken today. When I asked for a sample of Narragansett's porter, I got two. When I shamelessly asked for a few more, I got twelve. This beer is incredibly good. Mr. B stated on Facebook recently:

It occurs to me that if I could get a regular supply of the Narragansett Brewing Company Porter, it would become a staple in my beer fridge this winter. The slightly jarring burnt note I found in the finish last year seems entirely absent in this year's version.

I couldn't agree more. I love this stuff. I do. I loooooooove it. Which means I should be concerned that it has brought out Scrooge like feelings within me this Yuletide. These are mine. Understand. Me. Me. Me. I am not sure if you can covet your own stuff but these twelve cans of porter are making me sense it might be possible.

Christmas future. What would I wish for myself, for you all? Well, the Christmas photo contest closes on Sunday 10 December which means in the near future more little beer nerds will get more little beer presents under the tree and in their stockings? I wish there were more for you, more entries and more prizes. My Christmas future would have a prize for all. What else would my Christmas future have? A case of La Choulette De Noël perhaps? Or maybe another 250,000 words on the Oxford Companion to Beer wiki proving both that it is a great foundation for any exploration of beer but also that there is so much more to be explored and yet to be discovered. I would wish for that. I would also wish for Albany ale. The real stuff that 96 year old Charles H. Haswell in 1899 looked back upon in his youth and thought was a mighty good drink. We are working on it but it already may be having an effect, hunting out as much of the actual as you can. If I am coveting more this year, I also see in my future less and less patience for questionable claims to authenticity. If you are going to hold yourself out as something, please do the prep that such claims require.

There you have it. Insobriety, covetousness and impatience. Past, present and future. Exactly what Christmas brings out in all of us.