This is my first BridgePort beer, and it certainly won't be my last. BridgePort Brewery is the oldest craft brewer in Oregon, and was once known as the Columbia River Brewery. They make a full range of traditional craft brews: an IPA, an ESB, a stout, a brown ale, and even a porter, but today, I'm interested in their special seasonal holiday brew; Ebenezer Ale. In the glass, it's a deep brown, with lighter deep copper (almost red) highlights, and a creamy but narrow head. It's slightly sweet and spicy in aroma, but the taste is incredibly rich and complex; caramel and chocolate and something almost citrus. This is about as close as I've tasted to Christmas in a beer bottle.

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Red Hook always has interesting seasonal beer offerings. I've written about Red Hook Late Harvest Ale. Their latest is Red Hook Winterhook, their Winter Ale offering. They've been making this ale since 1985, and this year, it's only available from October through December. This one really is a "winter warmer," though something about its hoppy quality (it's brewed with four hop charges, using Cascade, Sterling, Alchemy hops). It's a noticeably hoppy brew; honestly, I can't think of one I've had in the U.S. that's as hoppy, but it also has an underlying "warmth" and sweetness from the malts. Winterhook is 6% ABV, and is made with Pale, Flour-malted Caramel and Light Chocolate malts—you do notice the Caramel and chocolate tones, under the hoppiness.

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For those of you just now thinking about Thanksgiving Dinner, and wondering—with all the turkey and dressing, and mashed potatoes and gravy and green bean casserole and sweet potatoes and cranberry relish and pie and also pie followed by pie—wondering where does the beer fit in?

Well. I'm glad you asked. First of all, Western Washington state is blessed with a number of small brew pubs. One of them, Boundary Bay in Bellingham, Washington, has a fabulous video starring Boundary Bay's own Ben Glass showing how to infuse a Turkey with beer (in this case Boundary Bay's fabulous Blond Ale), and roast it.

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I'm barely into sampling this year's seasonal fall and harvest brews, when I spotted the first Holiday beer; Deschutes Jubelale. Deschutes has been making this winter holiday ale for fifteen years. It's a dark ale, with dark crystal malts, and an ABV of 6.7%. You notice the malt, in the mellow but slightly spicy taste, and the sweetness, but the hops are very definitely there too. I suspect people who tell you they prefer something lighter and hoppier might be pleasantly surprised with this one.

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Red Hook is one of those Pacific Northwest brews that just doesn't make it to the east. Or at least, that's what I thought when I first started working on this post, but I'll get back to that. Red Hook ESB is one of the first Pacific Northwest brews I tried a year ago, and it's become one of those that I know is always a reliably good beer. The brewery was born in Seattle, in 1981. A second brewery opened in Woodinville Washington a few years later, and, as I just discovered, a third—in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Which means I can probably direct my New England beer drinking friends to a local supplier for Red Hook; that's pretty cool. Right now though, I want to talk about the Red Hook Late Harvest Ale.

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I picked up a 4-pack of Crispin "original" Hard Apple Cider on a whim. I'm quite fond of hard cider, though I've yet to have one that comes anything like close to the stuff New England farmers make in ceramic jugsCrispin Cider, or to a pear cider the likes of the no-longer-made Pear Cider at the Westwood Brewery. Crispin Original Apple Cider isn't bad; it's a bit on the sweet side but I tend to favor dry ciders. Crispin makes a dry cider, as well as a sweet. This is the "regular" or medium version. It's made of all natural ingredients, something that they're rather proud of, and has no added preservatives or coloring or sugar or other sweetening; not even unfermented apple juice added after the fermentation is done. It's made with a "premium apple blend," and then cold filtered (to prevent the natural cloudy appearance of fermented apple cider). The ABV is 5%.

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We picked this up on a whim at one dundee honey brown lagerof those little stores attached to a gas station. This particular store has an owner with a thing for Washington wine, so we always stop to look when we're in the neighborhood. He had a stack of 12 packs of Dundee Honey Brown, and, curious, since I'd never seen the beer or heard of the brewery, I went home with a 12 pack for $9.00. The Dundee Brewing Company is in Rochester, N.Y. Their Dundee Honey Brown Lager is their "founding" brew, their first beer introduced in 1994.

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I like trying new beers; I like it quite a lot. So it's probably not going to shock anyone when I reveal that I really like the availability of "variety packs," those boxes of twelve bottles of beer from a single brewery, but a mixture of, typically, six or four "varieties." My first exposure to these twelve packs of mixed beers from a single brewery was via Sam Adams. I used to look forward to the variety pack every fall, because it usually included Sam Adam's seasonal offerings, and their fall and harvest ales have been reliably good beers. I note that this year the "Brewmaster's Variety Pack" is a collection of their standards: Boston Lager, Black Lager, Scotch Ale, Brown Ale, Irish Red and Honey Porter, but it's still not to be sneered at.

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I am a fan of Octoberfest. It's a lovely fall outdoor festival, it involves lots of food, much of it served on sticks, and beer, and much of the beer in the form of seasonal limited releases. Plus, it's got historical associations, so the beer and junk ethnic food are educational exercises. What's not to like?

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Last week MillerCoors LLC (who make Miller, Coors, Blue Moon, Pabst, Schlitz, Schmidt, and others) and Anheuser-Busch (who make Bud Light, Budweiser, beer in a mug Michelob, and Busch beers, among others) both indicated that they'd be raising prices this fall. That's right around the corner. There's been some pretty good analysis of the announcement, in which people point out that the two main breweries' costs haven't really increased; mostly they're just grabbing an opportunity to raise prices.

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