Ho-ho-holy crap, I nearly died last night. Diamond Knot Brewing’s Industrial Ho-Ho, a spiced strong ale, was on tap at Bailey’s Tap Room where we stopped to toast our own Andrew Hay‘s virgin outing into the world of publishing (DotNetNuke Skinning and Design).

“Industrial Ho-Ho,” I muse to myself. “That sounds jolly.”

One beer and one hour later, I was weaving my bicycle around the dark, wet, crowded streets of Portland. I nearly hit a bus, ran over a curb, darted through the wet bog that is Waterfront Park, and hiccuped all 10 miles home.

Our art director, Ben, had two Industrial Ho-Ho pints. He woke up hung-over. However, it should probably be noted that he’s a vegetarian, and thus, a total lightweight.

Anyway, I highly recommend it. Best beer of the night by far, everyone agreed. Fairly light body, great maltiness, and, apparently, strong.

Bruce and Dave from BS Brewing made their annual pilgrimage to Hair of the Dog’s dock sale last weekend…

And apparently, every beer nerd in Portland did the same thing. Scheduled to run from 10 – 4, Dave and I showed up at 9:30 thinking we’d get ahead of most people and I guess to a degree we did. Here’s a shot of the line at 9:30 and the 80 or so people who showed up before us. The first guy in line showed up at 8:30, but most started queueing up around 9:00.
After making our purchases and sampling some of the other beers, the line was even longer at 11:00.

A casual survey of the cases coming out before us indicated Fred from the Wood was not surprisingly the big winner of the day. Since I still have half a case from last year in my basement, I loaded up on the tastefully named Adam.

Lured by John Foyston’s review of a Doggie Claws vertical tasting which included the phrase “the warm malty/dusty sweetness that reminded this gearhead of an old tube amp or radio warming up”, Dave and I also picked up one of the Doggie Claws sampler packs featuring each vintage going back to 2001. Hopefully our own vertical tasting will soon follow.

Some great news for Adam lovers like me, Alan told us that next year Adam from the Wood will be available and the beer is currently in old sherry casks with cherries. I may get there just a little bit earlier next year to make sure I get my hands on some of that. Sounds absolutely delicious!

Pouring in from a variety of news sources, Portland’s Widmer Brewing apparently got over its relationship issues on a weekend trip to Seattle and finally made a commitment to Seattle’s Redhook with a merger of the two companies. Redhook, who for years has wanted to know where this “agreement” was headed, seemed to be positively glowing when sharing the news with friends.

Details of the deal lifted from the Portland Biz Journal:

The two breweries said their company will be known as the Craft Brewers Alliance, but that Widmer and Redhook will remain separate brands.

Subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.

I’m guessing the other 50% of shares will be held by AB as corporate giants continue to get a piece of the craft/micro market.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. At least around here, where my backyard is covered in leaves and I’ve moved full-time to the all-fender bike. Oh yeah, Mother Nature says Christmas is right around the corner, which means it’s time to trot out my holiday ale recipe.

We’re completely pumped here at Schoen-Brau world headquarters, so here’s my holiday ale recipe that I brewed up this weekend.

• 1.5 lbs Caramel Malt
• Handful of organic British chocolate malt
• 1/2 lbs flaked barley
• 7 lbs light malt extract
• 1.5 lbs Neighborhood Clover Honey
• 1 giant cinnamon stick
• 1/2 oz. orange peel
• Irish Moss
• 1.5 oz Fuggle hops (boiling hops)
• 0.5 oz Fuggle hops (aroma hops)
• White Labs Burton Ale Yeast (WLP023)

Original gravity: 1.045 at 68 degrees.

Between the Fuggle hops, the Burton Ale yeast, and the British chocolate malt, I’m shooting for a Dickensian holiday ale; something ol’ Jacob Marley would’ve toasted Ebenezer with before he kicked it, doomed to haunt the earth for seven years, chained to his usurious past.

So, that’s what I’ll be stuffing in the stocking this year. What’s your holiday ale recipe?

p.s. Mmmm. Holiday ale means Holiday Ale Festival is just around the corner. Get pumped!