The Advent beer, pre-selection. Photo courtesy of Kevin.

As I have mentioned in previous posts (and on CBC) I took part this year in a Do-It-Yourself Beer Advent Calendar, organized by homebrewer, loyal onbeer.org reader and friend Chad Heinz. The idea behind a DIY Advent Calendar is to get a group of beer fans together to share beer and give each other a surprise. Each person buys 24 bottles of the same beer, preferably wrapped in some way. The beer get distributed so that everyone gets one bottle of each of the 24 supplied beer.

Just like a traditional advent calendar, starting December 1 each day you unwrap one beer, with the intention that you will try it that day (although in beer editions that is a loose requirement). The last beer is opened on Xmas Eve and leads you into the big day.

A couple of years ago I posted about my experience with the Craft Beer Advent Calendar (see here, here, here, here and here). In general terms, while many of the beer were quite interesting and some were sublime, there were issues of beer being past their prime and beer that were not really deserving of placement in an advent calendar.

Still, the concept was an interesting one.

Which is why a DIY version is intriguing to me. With DIY, you get beer that matches the beer awareness of the participants, which necessarily means something of a mixed bag. But the fun in this case is seeing what other people wanted to give you.

I joined Chad’s group because I trust him implicitly and know he knows good beer people. I figured for the most part the beer would be fine. Plus I wanted to see what it would be like to participate.

My first surprise was the difficulty in picking which beer I should contribute (which I will reveal below). I struggled with whether to go big or experimental, or find something more accessible. After weighing a number of options I decided for something solid, unexpected yet very accessible.

A popular day. Photo courtesy of Chad.

My logic was based on an assumption – eventually proven wrong – that many of the beer would be quite big and/or edgy. So I went for something that would balance those theoretical contributions. That is not how it played out.

As it worked out the variety in the beer offered was much bigger than anticipated. There was only one beer I had not tried before (I am tough on that front), although the offerings did include an Xmas beer that changes every year, making it two beer I had not yet tried.

The range was impressive. There were five IPAs of various shapes and sizes, plus three Belgian styles. However, there were also three Winter Ales made for the season, a couple of wheat beer, three red ales, a fruit beer, plus three darker beer. The mix also included a sour beer, a barley wine and a strong American ale.

Overall, I found the beer to be of decent quality but relatively moderate in their reach, with some notable stand-outs. Most people contributed a beer that would be amenable to a wide range of craft beer drinkers. Most of those offerings were still flavourful, just not particularly boundary pushing. The minority offered something bigger and more challenging, unintentionally creating an interesting balance to the calendar. Interestingly 15 of the beer were Canadian, suggesting a degree of nationalism in the selections (or maybe a price point issue). Five were American and only four were European.

Of the 24 beer, I was disappointed 8 times (in the interests of not embarrassing anyone I won’t say which beer). Conversely, there were 7 days where I was a very, very happy camper. The remaining 9 were in the middle.

Of course, I am a tough customer. I can be hard to  please. How I choose to interpret the results is that somehow the group found a way to offer beer to satisfy, at least some days, everyone in the list. I fully trust that everyone participating had a mixture of fantastic days and disappointing days, and I suspect my most favourite days were others’ least favourite days.

The final selection.

Chad did a great job moderating. Without knowing the actual beer he used his bottle-shape knowledge to anticipate strong beer and put them on the weekend (good idea!), and he ended with the ideal finisher – Alley Kat Olde Deuteronomy. Rich and full, it is a brilliant local barley wine. I have a sneaking suspicion the Olde Deut was Chad’s contribution.

I had a good time with the calendar. I looked forward to my morning ritual of unwrapping the day’s beer, even if I knew it was a day where I may not get to open it. Plus I can honestly say that even with beer I have had many times, the set-up led me to focus on the beer’s flavour in a way I  haven’t for a while. I found myself re-introducing myself to beer I have known for a long time. That is a very good thing.

The Facebook, website and daily survey didn’t get as much traffic as I hoped it would, as I would have liked to read more back and forth about what people thought about the beer. I think I was one of the few who entered my scores in the survey on every beer. The final ratings of the top six are also under-subscribed at this point.

And what was my contribution? After much deliberation, I went with Saskatoon’s Paddock Wood Red Hammer (Day 13). A longtime go-to beer for me, I thought people would appreciate its maltiness and balanced body, plus I anticipated most would not have tried it yet. I, of course, second guessed myself endlessly before its allotted day. I can think of at least a dozen other options I could have gone with. With hindsight I might have gone a bit more adventurous or offer something I knew no one would have tried before. Lessons learned.

Maybe next year I should host my own Advent Calendar where I do all 24 beer, just to satisfy my need to offer new experiences to other beer people. Nah!

Thanks to Chad for organizing the Calendar. I enjoyed it, even on the days where the beer left me uninspired. It simply was fun to see what other people thought I should drink. An idea I recommend to everyone.