'Tis the season for festival holiday beers. There are many great beers now available in Florida, both on the shelves and on tap. Brewers offer some different ones during the holiday season. Most of the holiday beers currently available are dark in color and are full of flavor. It's one of my favorite beer seasons.

A lot goes into making a great beer. There are four main ingredients in beer: malted barley, hops, water and yeast. Malted Barley is the workhorse in making beer. Malt is roasted or toasted to give beer darker color or sweeter flavor. The darker malts provide beer with a coffee or chocolate flavor and aroma. Contrary to popular belief, a dark beer doesn't necessarily have a lot of alcohol.

Hops are a dried flower. There are many hop varieties, each having unique properties and advantages for different beer styles. They act as a preservative, add a bitter character that helps balance the sweetness of the malts and can give a flowery aroma to the finished product.

The most abundant ingredient in beer is water; it makes up 96% of beer. But not all water is the same. Water is unique for each region of the world and, along the same lines, in each county in the states of Florida. The mineral and salt makeup of all water allows for different usages of ingredients during production. Therefore, the flavor of the finished product is unique depending on where it is brewed.

The last ingredient in beer it yeast. Yeast is a unicellular, living organism that basically takes sugars produced from malt and converts them to alcohol, carbon dioxide and some minor byproducts that give each beer style a unique smell and flavor. After their job is complete, yeast is settled or filtered out. Carbon dioxide can then be added into the finished beer to give it its fizz. This is the same for both bottled and draft beers - just a different final package.

There are many types or styles of beer available throughout the world. Generally beer is broken down into three distinct groups: ales, lagers and "others." Each of these can be broken down further into distinct styles of beer. They are based on the specific yeast or yeasts that ferment them and their operating temperatures. Ales are a group of beer that is fermented with a certain type of yeast that ferments on the upper layer of the fermentation vessel (or a top fermenter).

Lagers are fermented with certain yeasts strains that are more active on the bottom of the fermentation vessel (or a bottom fermenter). They are also fermented at a cooler temperature. The word lager is German for "to store." So lagers, in general take a little longer to make and are matured for an extended period. The third group is what I call :others." They are brewed with a combination of yeast and sometimes specific bacteria strains that can give beer a sour character like that of some Belgian beers on the market.

Most holiday brewers are not domestic "lawn mower" beers picked up at a convenience store, but full-bodied and flavorful. From England there is Camerons Christmas Ale. It's dark and warming at 6% alcohol. And from Germany, only a few hundred cases of Mahr's Christmas Bock are produced each year, so get what you can. It's a robust bock beer also at 6% alcohol.

It's so cold in Maine that The Shipyard Brewing Company can justify brewing three winter and holiday brews. Shipyard Holiday Ale is an easy-drinking, red wheat ale. The brewery celebrates being located on the birthplace of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with Longfellow Winter Ale. It's an untraditional robust porter that's a personal favorite. Prelude Holiday Special Ale will help celebrate the holidays. It's the biggest beer in their lineup at just under 7% alcohol.

One of the more recent additions to the holiday beer available is Avery Old Jubilation. There are hints of ginger, hazelnuts and chocolate at 8% alcohol, but no spices are used. One that is spiced is Anchor Brewing Holiday Ale, which is spiced with nutmeg and cloves (about the only thing you can pair with grandma's traditional fruitcake). Also from the West Coast is Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, which is heavily hopped and almost caramel sweet. It has hints of sharp citrus and a long finish.

Story Written by Ron Raike, Shipyard/Season Brewing Company.