Anyone get a beer advent calendar?

[Cass]

I got a Brock St. advent calendar box for my birthday. Day 1 - Peppermint Stout! A fun idea and the first time I've had a beer advent calendar. Nice to have a Xmas seasonal on the first day.

[Craig]

The Wooly Pub in Guelph sold an advent calendar sourced from various local breweries this year. I didn't get it, but the first beer was a Barncat IPA, so I think those that did are in good hands.

[seangm]

I was considering one but decided against it since I'm trying to reel in my beer budget these days. I got one a couple years ago and it was fun, nice to see so many options nowadays.

[phat matt]

My wife bought me one from Toronto Brewing, and the first day was Sierra Nevada Torpedo. A touch old, but haven't had it in awhile so it was a nice suprise. Looking forward to the other days!

[JerCraigs]

We did the Indie Advent calendar again this year. Indie is probably one of only a handful of breweries I'd trust to give me 24 random beers these days!

[HeadyestTopper]

We did an exchange at work. 25 people each brought a beer and each person left with 25 different beers. We drink and share them daily in a chat. Been a good way to get people together.

[Cass]

We did an exchange at work. 25 people each brought a beer and each person left with 25 different beers. We drink and share them daily in a chat. Been a good way to get people together.

Very cool idea. Nice way to stay festive for sure.

Brock St day 2: Blonde. A basic one after the Xmas seasonal. Will be interesting to see if there's thought put into the selection flow every day.

[S. St. Jeb]

Stumbled across this thread by chance from a couple of years ago.

Every year I am tempted to buy a beer advent calendar.....but I've never pulled the trigger. Has anyone else purchased one in 2021 or last year and can offer comments on fun and value?

[seangm]

Stumbled across this thread by chance from a couple of years ago.

Every year I am tempted to buy a beer advent calendar.....but I've never pulled the trigger. Has anyone else purchased one in 2021 or last year and can offer comments on fun and value?

I'm much the same. Finally decided to last year and got the Collective Arts one. It was not worth it. A good half of it or more was their regularly produced beers, many available at the LCBO including one of their IPAs that had been canned way back in July. I was very disappointed. They did include several Origin of Darkness beers but it wasn't really enough to redeem it overall.

Years ago, 2017 I think, I got a German import advent and while a lot of the beers were ok at best, it was interesting to try stuff we'd never get over here.

So tl;dr - it's hit and miss. Value is definitely questionable because you pay a huge premium, but if you get an advent with unique beers then I'd say it's fun.

[Cass]

Years ago, 2017 I think, I got a German import advent and while a lot of the beers were ok at best, it was interesting to try stuff we'd never get over here.

It's funny you should mention this - I was at a Costco in Detroit a couple of weeks back on a business trip, and I saw the German beer advent calendar. Lots of stuff I had never heard of and it looked interesting just for that reason.

As I only had a 1-case duty free limit I went with a case of the Cleveland Great Lakes Xmas Ale, which I was pleased to find. That'll do me for my festive drinking!

[seangm]

Years ago, 2017 I think, I got a German import advent and while a lot of the beers were ok at best, it was interesting to try stuff we'd never get over here.

It's funny you should mention this - I was at a Costco in Detroit a couple of weeks back on a business trip, and I saw the German beer advent calendar. Lots of stuff I had never heard of and it looked interesting just for that reason.

As I only had a 1-case duty free limit I went with a case of the Cleveland Great Lakes Xmas Ale, which I was pleased to find. That'll do me for my festive drinking!

Looks like it's from the same importer as the one I had way back, Original Kalea. Came with a glass too although sadly that has long since perished.

[Lunardr0ne]

I was looking into a few beer calendars this year, but in the end none of the ones I looked at felt like they were worth it.

One with beers from a bunch of different breweries does sound pretty interesting, especially if it's aimed at the craft beer crowd, so it hopefully wouldn't be just the most obvious stuff.
Would be also interesting to see two or three breweries collaborating for one.

Wife did get me a whisky calendar (I think from Master of Malt) couple years back that was amazing.

[S. St. Jeb]

So here we are at that time of year again, and once again I am contemplating getting a beer Advent calendar. Never have before, mostly because I always have a lot of beer on hand anyway and never feel the need to gamble on 24 more. Might do it this year. I've received emails from Collective Arts, Lake of Bays, and Nita promoting their versions.

Nita is doing this for the 7th time. The nice thing about theirs is that they have a long list of other breweries contributing. The downside is that it is much more expensive.

Collective Arts is not 100% beer. They say it includes ready-to-drink cocktails, but they don't say how many. Beer-wise, they say it includes regulars and limited releases.

Lake of Bays claims 24 unique LoB brands. They don't have that many types in their arsenal, so there has to be some unique ones.

Does anyone know of any other breweries that are offering an Advent calendar this year?

[Cass]

Looks like Brock St. is doing it again, on sale for $89.99 which isn't a bad deal: https://advent.brockstreetbrewing.com/p ... ntcalendar

I am on CA's mailing list and saw theirs too.

I think it's a fun idea and was certainly apt for pandemic times, but not sure if I would go through all that beer.

Personally I'd rather take the money and buy some LCBO gift packs and Xmas seasonals to ensure holiday themed goodies. But I know that takes the fun out of opening each day!

[seangm]

I've been getting emails from Craft Beer Imports for their advent calendar, this year's features "24 travel-inspired craft beers from 5 different countries, never-before sold in Canada." I was admittedly curious because of the uniqueness element, but I'm not sure I can justify the $160 bucks + taxes and shipping.

Brock Street definitely has value going for it, but I honestly find I dislike more of their beers than I like. Once again I find myself less willing to spend so much money on question marks; I'm liking the suggestion of just buying more gift packs this year.