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Merry and bright: where Christmas beers meet Christmas carols
© Hayne Palmour IV/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS The Wells family's inflatable Christmas characters cover their yard at 2609 Meadowlark Lane in Escondido.
O Come, All Ye Beer FansSomething about this season makes beer fans break into song. Limber up your vocal cords and mark your calendar.
Dec. 10: San Diego Beer Choir will wish you "Hoppy Holidays" at South Park Brewing, 1517 30th St., San Diego. Admission to the 7 p.m. the concert is $12 — tickets can be bought at https://choralconsortiumofsandiego.org — and includes song sheets and a beverage ticket.
Dec. 19: O'Brien's Pub, 4646 Convoy St., San Diego, will host its annual Christmas carol party at 7 p.m. Free admission, but bring some cash if you're hankering for the Belgian Christmas beers on tap or the domestic and imported holiday beers on the pub's deep bottle list.
Random question. What's a Christmas ale?
A. Short answer: whatever a brewer thinks it is.
Longer answer: Christmas ales are strong, in the 7 to 14 percent alcohol range, often spiked with fruit and spices. Beyond that, they are as varied and unpredictable as a sleigh load of wrapped packages. Anchor's Our Special Ale has a different recipe each year, often with a woodsy evergreen flavor. In contrast, Austria's fabled Samichlaus smacks of molasses, brown sugar and caramel. Santa's Little Helper, from San Marcos's The Lost Abbey, is full of roasted barley, baker's chocolate, and dark coffee notes.
These beers are merry, but not bright — most are dark and deep, meant to be savored.
Remembering Pearl HarborA solemn but not stuffy event, The Hoist is a toast raised to veterans three times a year: on Memorial Day, Veteran's Day and Pearl Harbor Day. Inside Churchill's Pub and Grille, 887 San Marcos Blvd., San Marcos, head to the doorway topped by a sign: "Lest We Ever Forget."
The event was started by Kevin Hopkins, executive vice president of Vista's Mother Earth Brew and — the more important fact, in this context — someone who once wore the uniform of the U.S. Air Force. But even those who never served are welcomed at these memorials.
"This is not a club," he told me at The Hoist held on Memorial Day in 2016. "The whole aspect of this is that it's for everyone — we want those who didn't serve to feel comfortable with those who did serve."
He also insisted that this Saturday's 6 p.m. Hoist will not be a seasonal buzzkill.
"Please join us and take a moment," he wrote on The Hoist's Facebook page. "We can assure you that it will not detract from your holiday season but rather it will add to it. Guaranteed."
Kings of BeerMaybe this is a case of middle-age blahs. The 30th anniversary of Winter Welcome Ale (6 percent alcohol by volume), the annual holiday offering from Yorkshire's Samuel Smith Brewery is well-carbonated but nonetheless left me flat. The malts tasted like stale apples while the hops — two British standard-bearers, Fuggles and Golding — were too mild to rule Britannia.
On the plus side, the label sparkles like a Christmas cracker; the rocky the cream-colored head is fluffy and durable, and the ale's carbonation is cheery. Previous editions of Winter Welcome were great treats that trekked from The United Kingdom to my Southern California mug in fine, festive style. This one's a letdown, but let's overlook this year's shortcomings for auld lang syne.
Beer BookshelfIf you're thinking of opening a brewery, a.) please don't, we're over-stocked, and b.) at least do your research.
For the latter, you should consider reading D.C. Reeves's "The Microbrewery Handbook" (Wiley, $25). Co-founder and CEO of Perfect Plain Brewing in Pensacola, Fla., Reeves is a former sports reporter. He argues that a winning game plan is to focus on a modest operation with an appealing tasting room, rather than a massive industrial plant intent on flooding the zone with bottles and cans. The book dives deep into financing, branding, hiring, social media campaigns, and zoning issues.
In one Q. and A., he asks Modern Times' director of hospitality, Nic Pelaez, how to create a pleasant work environment in a taproom.
"Make your employees as much of a focus as the product or the guest," Pelaez said. "Make the success of the company tie into their own personal success, through something like employee-ownership or through their own career growth."
Pros and PintsAn occasional peek inside local beer leaders' refrigerators, seeing what — other than their own beers — they drink.
The pro: Sabrina LoPiccolo, marketing manager at White Labs and San Diego Brewers Guild board member.
The pints: "Over the holiday weekend my drink choices were varied — and plentiful! Kicked the long weekend off with Casting Shadows, a collaboration beer by Burgeon Beer Co. and Societe. It was amazing! Had some Sierra Nevada Celebration on Thanksgiving. Throughout the rest of the weekend, Jetty IPA by Pizza Port, Wild Basin Black Raspberry Boozy Sparkling Water and mulled wine.
"Needless to say, they all paired great with food and family!"
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©2019 The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Laughing Place Presents: “25 Days of Christmas”
Each day we’ll share a new post, gift guide, review or photo tour related to the winter holidays and it’s going to be magical! Everyone is invited to celebrate with us, even you Scrooges and Grinches out there! After all, it’s the most wonderful time of the year.
Day 5 of Christmas – December 5, 2019: shopDisney’s 12 Days of Magical Deals
Over the next 12 days, shopDisney is offering new deals and specials, so you can complete your shopping list and share Disney with your friends and family.
Day 4 of Christmas – December 4, 2019: Holidays at SeaWorld San Diego
Mike explores the winter wonderland at SeaWorld. From live shows to dazzling lights, guests will delight in the seasonal offerings at available now at the park!
Day 3 of Christmas – December 3, 2019: Movie Review: Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas
Read what Alex has to say about Freeform’s newest original holiday the movie about a young dead woman who has to learn the meaning of her life in order to move on.
Cinnamon-Apple Lunch Box Tart from Woody’s Lunch Box for Holidays 2019 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Day 2 of Christmas – December 2, 2019: Disney’s Hollywood Studios Holiday Foodie Guide
It’s a new season for goodies at Walt Disney World and Disney’s Hollywood Studios has plenty of sweet snacks and popcorn buckets to celebrate the holiday.
Day 1 of Christmas – December 1, 2019: Why “A Very Merrytime Cruise” is Perfect Even a Scrooge or Grinch
Jeremiah shares his recent experience aboard the Disney Dream for the Very Merrytime Cruise and why it’s a great option for Disney fans and holiday lovers of any age.
You can find the full 25 Days of Christmas lineup on Freeform’s website or right here on Laughing Place. Happy Holidays!
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03
Making merry; Maryville Christian hosting Christmas Festival
There’ nothing like a festival of trees to stir some Christmas cheer.
Combine the love of the season with the artistic talents of children of all ages and it becomes the place to be.
That’s what Maryville Christian School is counting on as it hosts its Christmas Festival, from 1-6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at the school. It’s all part of another celebration — the 25th anniversary of MCS.
“We wanted to do something big for our 25th,” said Ann Damron, PTO leader at the school. She said it’s been years since MCS did a festival like this. It was time to do it again, she said. Jenny Goins is also a PTO leader who’s been busy with the project.
The doors will be open to not only MCS families but anyone who wants to come to experience the spirit of the season. Art students and others have been working for weeks to get more than a dozen trees decorated for display and the auction, similar to the Fantasy of Trees event held in Knoxville, only on a smaller scale, Damron explained.
The elementary students have been given the job of decorating the trees, while middle and high schoolers are working on gift baskets that also will be available for purchase.
Trees, Damron said, have different themes, as students were given the opportunity to choose. There is a Disney-themed tree, she said, along with a Toy Story tree and one with a gingerbread theme. “Just whatever the kids wanted to do,” Damron said.
Those who want a ready-made tree can simply make the highest bid and then take the tree and its entire set of decorations home. Some may choose to keep it there or make it the centerpiece of their business or office.
MCS began in 1994. At first, students met in two local churches — Beech Grove Baptist and Madison Avenue Baptist — before building its home on Morganton Road in Maryville. There are about 300 students who attend preschool through 12th grade.
This event also will include an opportunity for families to have holiday portraits made by Mandy Street, a professional photographer. An appropriate backdrop will be set up outside. She will be there from 1-4 p.m.
Live Christmas music will fill the gym as shoppers browse. Kids can participate in making crafts and all can enjoy hot chocolate and cookies.
The art classes and MCS parents have made Christmas crafts to sell.
While this is meant to be a fun way to celebrate Christmas, the festival also serves as a fundraiser for MCS. Damron said the money will be used to help purchase a new sound system and projector. She said the current equipment is aging and needs replacement. It is used for chapel services for students and for other programs.
Art teacher Becky Patterson also just recently was able to purchase a kiln, thanks to another fundraiser, Damron said. Some of the proceeds from the Christmas Festival will be used to buy supplies, like clay.
Damron said this special day is a way to share Christ with others along with the joy, he brings at Christmas and every day.
“It is not only our theme for the festival but it is a message we always want to share year-round,” Damron explained. “It has been a message we have been blessed to share for 25 years.”
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