Spencer & Lynn

Beer Advent

2021

Once again, we had a blast putting together our annual Craft Beer Advent Calendar!!  We've thoughtfully chosen twenty-four of the best beers to enjoy in December 2021, and wrapped them up together as the best advent calendar ever:  one that surprises you with a new, limited, seasonal beer every day!  

We've represented many of the best cans and bottles coming from our amazing local craft beer scene, alongside some ancient, traditional brews from across the planet, and even included some new and unexpected flavors and styles as well.  With an array of IPAs, a smattering of sours, some crisp clean lagers, some way more obscure and nerdy lagers, plus all the roasty malty dark beers you could possibly want to keep you cozy throughout this holiday season... this year's selection is sure to delight any craft beer drinker, from novice to connoisseur.  

We thank you for joining us for our second annual Beer Advent Calendar, and invite you to sip along with these daily tasting notes that we’ve put together for each individual beer.  Once again for your convenience we saved the heaviest-hitters - those with alcohol contents over 7% - for the weekends.  We sincerely hope you enjoy these selected seasonal offerings as much as we really do too!!  

Cheers to you, cheers to craft beer, and cheers to the 2021 holidays!
Kim, James, Kelly, Jules, Jessica, Kathryn, Ashley, David & Pamela

Fat Orange Cat Baby Elves

Salem / North Haven, Connecticut

You gotta love a limited edition holiday beer that doesn’t use the predictable flavors of candy canes, cinnamon, or gingerbread.  Just once a year Fat Orange Cat brews their ‘Baby Elves’, an imperial or double version of their flagship hazy IPA ‘Baby Kittens’.  Baby Elves features the same hops as Baby Kittens (Galaxy, Simcoe and Citra), just in significantly increased amounts, for your drinking pleasure.  Due to all the extra hops, this beer definitely has a pithy bitterness, but at the same time it’s positively JUICY, and tastes like everything orange:  clementines, tangerine, and fresh squeezed orange juice.  If we had to guess, we’d peg this super-fruity beer at around 7%abv.  Although it’s full-bodied, it really doesn’t feel like 9% to us, thanks to Fat Orange Cat’s signature silky smooth mouthfeel.  

Although most of their distributed beers these days are brewed over at Twelve Percent’s brewing co-op in North Haven, their true home is a small, seasonal farm brewery in East Hampton, CT.  There, they focus on experimental brews and an admirable large-picture good-ness.  Fat Orange Cat consciously employs solar power, plants beneficial pollinator wildflower meadows, and maintains a waste nutrient management plan, to re-use all waste materials either on property or for animal feed.  Last but definitely not least, they graciously serve as Spencer & Lynn’s partner in our PakTech Recycling Program.  

Public Service Announcement:  Plastic PakTech snap-on 4pack and 6pack holders unfortunately cannot be recycled in CT, and can only be recycled and repurposed at a professional facility.  If your house is anything like ours, these babies can stack up quickly.  We gladly accept your Paktech collections at any Spencer & Lynn location, where we (thanks to Fat Orange Cat) ensure they never end up in our trash stream.  Thanks in advance for your cooperation with this!

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