On the 9th day of Christmas, Julia recommended to me…

Phone Home from Night Shift Brewing (Everett, MA)

and

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)!

A Charlie Brown Christmas is the definition of a classic, so, for a fun juxtaposition, we’ll be pairing it with some unexpectedly delicious beers that think a bit outside of the brewing box.

When starting to think of what to pair with this Peanuts animated Christmas special, Phone Home, a 6.2% ABV peanut butter porter from Night Shift Brewing, immediately came to mind! Inspired by Reese’s Pieces, this brew is chocolatey and peanut buttery in exactly the way you’d expect. Keep your eyes peeled for this seasonal release in the fall, right around Halloween—just in time to enjoy while watching ET, or It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Nothing feels more like Christmas than the delightfully jazzy soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas and the animated short’s heartwarming anti-commercialism narrative. Watching this festive gem every year never fails to get the holiday spirit coursing through my veins.

Blackberry Crumble is a collaboration between Mast Landing and Barreled Souls Brewing. It’s a 6% ABV sour ale brewed with blackberries and vanilla beans that balances the prickly tartness of the berries with a soft sweetness like that of what you’d expect from an expertly crafted pastry crust. Sipping on this brew will have you dancing like you’ve got Schroeder tickling the ivories!

This Blue Hawaiian Sour is a 4.7% ABV kettle sour brewed with acai, pineapple, and coconut by Untitled Art in collaboration with Horus Aged Ales. Look at that frickin’ blue beer! Back when I worked in a liquor store, I gently bribed our beer buyer (the same lovely gentleman who now works at the Wine Press that I, famously, “know”) to bring in a case of these bad boys after I saw a picture on Instagram. After the first sip and a day of relentlessly recommending “the blue beer” to customers, I had no regrets! It looks like it would taste like a blue Jolly Rancher, and it totally does, but like, if you somehow made a Jolly Rancher piña colada. If commercialism around the holidays has you feeling blue like our pal Charlie Brown, picking up a fun and innovative brew like this may turn that frown upside down!

Can’t find any of these funky brews in your area? Pick up something that’ll have you saying, “It’s not such a bad beer after all, Charlie Brown!” A few months ago I picked up the Harpoon Brewery and Dunkin Donuts collaborative variety pack and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed their Jelly Donut IPA—all it needed was a little love!

Happy holidays ya filthy animals!