Making Homemade Wine and Beer

Brewing special seasonal beers predates modern history and has its origin in the pagan celebrations of winter solstice. Later, as monasteries often functioned as the local brewery, some monks made the the first holiday commemorative beers to celebrate the birth of Christ. Winter beers are as much a state of mind as a style, but beers best for fending off the cold of a long winter night — such as old ales, strong ales, barleywines and strong lagers — are often associated with winter.

Beer Hunter.com

Fruitcake, the most feared of holiday gifts, who eats it, certainly not beer drinkers. They hope for six packs of beer. If very good over the past year their reward will be a ‘big beer,’ one with sufficient body and alcohol to ward off the cold chill of winter. You can almost hear them say “Give me a big beer, not some wimpy fruit cake.” Surprisingly, it was fruitcake that gave mid-winter brews such distinctive character.

Real Beer.com