One of my favorite holiday traditions is driving around looking at lights. When I was a kid, my family would pack into the car and take the longest route possible between my aunt’s and our house to look at Christmas lights. Even in high school, my friends and I would drive around looking for those homes whose merry-making bordered on deranged. Now that I’m older, I still take the Christmas light tour after dinner. Short’s Brewing Company, following in the Christmas tradition, released an American sour ale to highlight the raucous displays that have become as much a part of the holidays as Santa and presents.

Short’s Exterior Illumination pours with a pink head and smells of evergreen wreaths and poinsettias. Inside, you’ll find a hit of cranberries and spruce. Now, I can’t say I’ve ever eaten spruce before, so it was shocking to recognize. It’s hard to brew a scent into a flavor, but the general tartness of the sour style and cranberries notes balance out the jolt of evergreen in the initial taste. The black current is a bit more flavorful and provides a well-rounded profile to the 5.3% ABV beer. Exterior Illumination is about as dry as a sparking wine or champagne, and could easily be substituted for either in a holiday toast.

True to form, Short’s loves to toss the unexpected into a beer and showcase their genius at crafting delicious brews from combinations you wouldn’t expect. Add Exterior Illuminations to their increasingly list of experimental wins.

Feature image courtesy of Short’s Brewing Company.

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