DAY 16 - I promise, you can make this beer cocktail.

Any DIYers in the chat? I swear, my toxic trait is looking at something intensely complex and thinking "sure I could pay for it, but I could also do it myself." Spoiler alert: I often can't, or at minimum, won't.

A beer cocktail kit though? That's right up my alley -- and I hope yours too, cause ya have one now! Follow the instructions to create a delicious little beer-tail with your Cerveza to enjoy this evening.

It's a fun project, everything you need is already right there, and you get to sip on something yummy when you're done. The Cerveza creates the perfect base for the bitters, juice, and lime to shine.

DAY 15 - If you can't stand the heat, don't be a brewer.

At the end of last year, we started a killer collab with our friends over at Peril Hot Sauce. Our West Sixth Brewers (certified Hot-Sauce-Heads) have now created three awesome recipes for this sauce, which we call "Hot Static".

We wanted to veer off a bit and make something extra special for our Advent fam - and Snake Eyes Black Sesame Stout was born! This sauce uses Snake Eyes Imperial Stout, along with congo black habaneros, chocolate ghost chilis, roasted garlic, molasses, black sesame, cacao powder, and black malt. Enjoy, y'all!!

DAY 14 - A beer made for (not) sharing.

Pack Away!! God, I love this beer. It was one of the very first West Sixth beers I ever tried. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a good lager, and maybe I'm just a sucker for the purple and orange complimentary colors, but this is a great brew. It always comes out right after our Oktoberfest beer leaves, and it fills the Stein-shaped hole in my heart from that end of season perfectly. Suffice it to say, I'm a fan, and I think you will be too.

Pack Away is an easy-drinking classic German-style Vienna Lager with plenty of toasted malt characteristics and a pleasantly dry finish. In other words, it's a crowd-pleaser with tons of flavor. You can pack it for all your picnics, hikes, bikes, and gatherings -- or, in this case since this is your advent box, you can hide it in the back of the fridge until YOU are ready to enjoy it. Or you can be a nice person and share, but if your partner/friend/family takes more than their fair share, don't say I didn't warn ya.

In addition to one of my favorite beers, today's slot also contains a fun lil silipint shot glass. Made of flexible silicone, this guy will be fun to take shots with or to use as a fidget toy when you don't know what to do with your hands. The possibilities are endless.

DAY 13 - Make The Yuletide Gay

It's SOUR DAY! Today's slot is for those of us who miss Summer, and think sweaters are itchy. We've included two beers in one place -- our Pride Y'all, and our flagship Berliner Weisse Sour. And, if you're sour about the Pride beer in the advent box, might I invite you to try it first? It's delicious, and I promise it's only a teeny tiny part of the gay agenda. I digress because it's Christmas, and I'm no Grinch. The Grinch would go to Pride though, you can't tell me otherwise. ANYWAY -- see below for today's beer descriptions.

PRIDE Y'ALL - A fruited sour ale brewed with raspberries, vanilla and lactose. A refreshing tart ale with big raspberry aroma and flavor with a pleasant finish that is softened by lactose and slight vanilla cream.

WEST SIXTH BERLINER WEISSE SOUR - A crisp and refreshing sour German ale that is light in body and very tart with flavors reminiscent of sourdough bread.

DAY 12 - Not just a grapefruit.

Oooooweeeee what a day is today! THREE ITEMS in ONE SLOT? You're one lucky human.

We decided our Adventers should get the first peek at our new West Sixth Playing Card design. It's a stunner. Plus, we put together a cutie lil' book of games to play with your friends and fam this holiday season.

As if that wasn't enough, we've included a Hop Static Channel 9 for your viewing - er - I mean tasting pleasure. Channel 9 is a dry hopped IPA brewed with grapefruit, which adds a robust citrus presence alongside a bright hop character balanced against a bready malt body.

This newest Channel is a crowd-pleaser, and we sure hope you enjoy it!

DAY 11 - #NuLuBREWED4LYFE

Did you know we host guided tastings at West Sixth NuLu every week? Every Saturday at 1pm baybeeeee. And now you have a ticket to go on one. How cool is that? Tour our Louisville taproom & 3-barrel brewing system, taste exclusive beers, and learn about our business.

I love all of our West Sixth tours, and, in fact, I run the program. I can tell you that our guides are knowledgable, and our NuLu taproom is a really cool place to visit. You will taste awesome beers, you will have a good time, and you will get a tour glass that matches the one in today's slot too. So, go, enjoy your tour, and taste some new beers in that new swanky NuLu tour glass of yours. It's on the house. ;)

To reserve your NuLu tasting date & find out more about our tour program email me at tours@westsixth.com or head to westsixth.com/tours

DAY 10 - The Aztecs, Chocolate, & Mex Mocha 🌶️🍫

Bear with me today, I'm going to give you a little history lesson. I promise it's related. If you know the story, indulge me anyway, it's interesting.

Now, I love chocolate. I'm a "choc-a-holic". I firmly believe that if a dessert does not contain chocolate, it is not worth the calories. Controversial, I know. That said, if there's one group of people who have ever had me beat in the chocolate admiration department, it would have been the Aztecs. The Aztecs not only loved chocolate -- they believed that cacao was given to them by their gods. The Aztecs enjoyed consuming it, yes, but they also used cacao as currency. Cacao, at the time, was a currency more valuable than gold.

Legend has it that Aztec ruler Montezuma II drank gallons of chocolate every day for the energy it gave him (that's caffeine, bud. How did his heart not explode?). The way Montezuma consumed these gallons was in an Aztec form of hot chocolate, called Xocolatl -- a mixture of ground cacao beans (cocoa powder), hot water, and chili peppers. See how it relates now?

Chocolate as a sweet treat was not invented until Columbus brought Cacao to Spain, and then the French brought it from the Spanish to the rest of Europe. This was when it was first sweetened with sugar cane, and this new method of consumption eventually gave way to the Hershey and Nestle companies, and Swiss Miss, and Kit Kats and Twix -- you get it. There's a lot of history there that I'm skipping to make this more readable. Essentially, this Aztec form of chocolate consumption got a little lost along chocolate's journey, but the Mexican people did their best to keep it alive in Mexico. As the world became more globalized, we learned of this spicier way to enjoy chocolate, and we started more commonly adding chili to chocolate again. As it turns out, it's freakin' delicious.

So that's, in part, where West Sixth's Mexican Mocha comes from. The name is because adding chilis to chocolate is a traditional Mexican way to enjoy a chocolate beverage. Additionally, this beer is a coffee stout -- so the kick of caffeine Montezuma II got from his Xocolatl is also represented in this style of beer - pretty neat! Now that our history lesson is over, I can tell you about the beer.

West Sixth Mexican Mocha Imperial Coffee Stout is an American Stout with Sumatra coffee beans, chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla, pasilla, and ancho chili peppers added. These additions compliment throughout and make for a tasty treat, worthy of an Aztec king. Get it cold, enjoy it, and IDK maybe watch some drunk history while you're at it? Or make your own. Heck, use this as a script. You have my blessing.

See y'all tomorrow!

 


DAY 9 - Cheers to a Lexington Legend 🍻

CCI!!! Lexington's LEGEN (wait for it ) DARY Chevy Chase Inn turned 90 (!!!) years old this year. To help them celebrate, we created a can just for the occasion. Frankly, this can is a work of freakin' art. If you've ever been to CCI (and if you haven't, you should go sometime), you will recognize the iconic stained glass in this artwork. Cricket Press truly knocked it out of the park on this one.

Not to mention, the beer inside is a gem. It's a beautiful Czech Pilsner -- Czech Saaz hops lend subtle, but distinct spiciness and bitterness notes to compliment a clean, but full malt body made up of 100% Bohemian Floor Malted Pilsner malt. Drinkable, clean, and still distinctly flavored.

This is a super special day as well because most of the allocation of this beer went to Chevy Chase Inn directly. With only a few six-packs in our taproom, the beer sold out very quickly, and many people couldn't get their hands on it. Lucky you, we made sure to save some for our Adventers.

We love this beer, we love this can, and we hope you do too.