Day twelve. Day twelve of the seventh annual Xmas beery photo contest. Who would have thought we would have ever made it here. On a Tuesday. In late November. When so much else is going on. Big news? A new set of photos of course. First up is Atis Rektins of Latvia who was visiting Switzerland. Correct me if I am wrong but we've never had a Latvian entrant before... or a Swiss one for that matter, have we? And he sent along this story with the photo above:

This was the first really warm and sunny day of the spring 2012 and the snow was melting fast. So I put my baby daughter in her pram, packed a beer and a glass and we both went to a sunny spot in cow pastures with an excellent view, just a few hundred meters from our house in Switzerland where we lived for a few months this year. The beer was good and the view magnificent - there is Eiger and Jungfrau on the left side of the picture. What makes it even more excellent, my daughter slept all the way and did not cry, thus allowing me to sit back and enjoy my beer. She made the hell shortly afterwards, though.

Atis sent along these three other entries as well from a home brewing event. He explains the middle one this way: "...during a homebrew event, we distilled some of the spoilt beer into moonshine." Oh. My.

Next, Cyrus Mower has written to tell us "I'm from Oxford, England and am very much looking forward to a trip to Bruges in the near future to help me get into the Christmas spirit!" Lucky bastard. Oh. That wasn't very Yule-like of me...

Finally for today, Patrick Hirlehey of Waterdown, Ontario sends in his full set of nine for this year. I like number 8. But I always say that, don't I...

And they are here for prizes. Here is an update:

♦ As they have for many years, our good pal friends from Maine's Shipyard brewing have pledged three t-shirts for happy beer nerds out there.
♦ In addition to the dandy neck tie from Narragansett brewing we have had added a t-shirt which I am really hoping is a t-shirt with their dandy porter logo on it.
♦ Stephen Beaumont, he who has been Blogging at the World of Beer, has pledged a signed copy of his new book The World Atlas of Beer reviewed here.
♦ Alistair Reece of the blog Fuggled has pledged the gift of some Fuggled merchandise for a happy winner this year.
♦ From Maine's Gritty McDuff''s, a black t-shirt with the Hop Angel's logo. Sized M or S. Pretty S for an M. Been so long since I was either, can't really tell.
♦ And, has been the case for so many years, Ontario's Roland and Russell are offering a gift pack of gifts for some artsy beer nerd. This is a gift that needs a meet up so, practically speaking, it's available to anyone within a drive of the west end of Lake Ontario. Which includes WNY and Erie Co., PA as long as you can cross the border to take advantage of the prize.
A black Nøgne Ø golf shirt, sized XXL. But a fairly short XXL. Just saying.
♦ Jeff Alworth of Portland, Oregon and the blog Beervana has pledged a few copies of his Beer Tasting Tool Kit as well as some other treats.
A Coney Island Mermaid Pilsner bike shirt in blue, size XXL but a very allegedly XXL that I would think is more L.
♦ Max Bahnson who entered the seven photos above also submitted his pledge of a Maximum Max Goodie Bag of a copy of his book Prague: A Pisshead's Pub Guide as well as a rare opportunity to get yourself to Prague and buy him beer. [Legal Disclaimer: the duration of said meeting is entirely up to Max but is heavily conditional on the supply of beer provided to Max during said meeting.]
♦ And last but certainly not lease, Stan Hieronymus of Appellation Beer has offered copies of his book "Brew Like a Monk" as well as his upcoming "For the Love of Hops". Fabulous additions to the pledge pool.

Man, that's getting to be a lot of typing. All I have are bloody stumps for fingers now. Thanks Christmas. Thanks a lot.