Added: Monday, December 8th 2025
Greene King, with 2,600 pubs and restaurants, is leading the pack with Christmas beers this year. Its popular beer Rocking Rudolph is joined by Fireside and Abbot Reserve.
Rocking Rudolph, 4.2 per cent, is available on cask and also in bottle. For every pint sold, 5p will be donated to Macmillan Cancer Support. It’s a rich and fruity beer, with raisin and sultana fruit balancing peppery hops.
It’s joined by Fireside, 4.5 per cent, ideal for supping in front of a blazing pub fire. It has a big and refreshing citrus fruit character, while black malt adds a dry note.
Its companion is Abbot Reserve, a 6.5 per cent stronger version of the renowned premium bitter. It has a big biscuit malt aroma and palate from pale, amber and crystal malts, with rich vinous fruit and a deep hop bitterness from Challenger, Fuggles and Northdown varieties.
Bateman’s Brewery in Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, is a family brewery that first fired its mash tuns and coppers in 1874. Rosey Nosey, 4.9 per cent, is a remarkable success story for a small independent brewery. Sales grow every year: as well as a cask version available in Bateman’s 69 pubs, the bottled beer is on sale in major supermarkets.
It’s brewed with pale, crystal and chocolate malts and is hopped with Challenger and Goldings varieties. It has biscuit malt on aroma and palate, balanced by dark, burnt fruits and peppery hops. The dark amber beer is fruity and delicious.
Shepherd Neame, in the heart of the Kent hop fields in Faversham, is Britain’s oldest brewery, dating from 1698. This year its revered Christmas Ale, 7 per cent, is joined by other beers from the range in a special Christmas Ale Collection.
Along with all the brewery’s beers, Christmas Ale is made with mineral-rich water from an artesian well deep below the site. The festival ale is made with pale and crystal malts, with Challenger, Target and Goldings hops. It has a rich and vinous character, with biscuit malt, dark fruits and spicy hops.
It’s joined by 1698, 6.5 per cent, first brewed to celebrate the brewery’s tercentenary. It has a Protected Geographical Indicator to signify it’s a true traditional Kentish ale. 1698 is bottle conditioned and will improve with age.
Other beers in the collection are IPA, 6.1 per cent, and Double Stout. 5.2 per cent. Both are brewed using original 19th centuries recipes. The recipes were first written in code to prevent a rival brewery from stealing them. The codes were broken in recent years. The beers use authentic Kentish hops, including East Kent Goldings.
Making up the collection is Shepherd Neame’s celebrated Bishops Finger, 5.2 per cent. It also enjoys a Protected Geographical Indicator as a genuine Kentish ale. The award stipulates that the beer can be brewed only on a Friday by the head brewer and must use traditional Kentish ingredients. These include pale and crystal malts and Goldings and Target hops. It has vinous fruit and peppery hops on aroma and palate.
The beer takes its name from ancient finger posts that pointed pilgrims towards Canterbury Cathedral and the tomb of Thomas Becket. The collection of 12 bottles can be bought from www.shop.shepherdneame.co.uk.
Orbit Brewery in South-east London brews Jolly Saint Nico, 4.8 per cent, described as a Christmas Kölsch, a style that originates in Cologne – Köln in German. To give the beer a true seasonal taste, malt and hops are joined by cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. Not surprisingly, the beer has a pronounced warming palate of spices and the elegant bitterness of German Hallertau hops. www.orbitbeers.com.
The Chiltern Brewery in Buckinghamshire has produced a special edition of its Bodgers Barley Wine, 8.4 per cent. The regular beer is brewed with Maris Otter pale malt and Fuggles and Goldings hops. It has done me the honour of brewing Roger’s Bodgers, with my face on the label and my signature. The bottles are numbered. I added a dash of crystal malt and a third hop, Endeavour. The hop is named after Inspector Morse: when he died it was discovered the E in his name stood for Endeavour as his parents were strict Quakers.
The beer is bottle conditioned and is packed with luscious malt, fruit and peppery and spicy hops. www.chilternbrewery.co.uk.
Fuller’s Vintage Ale 2025, 8.4 per cent, is not brewed as a Christmas Ale and is launched in the autumn. But the beer is an ideal companion for Christmas feasts.
The 2025 edition is brewed with pale and dark crystal malts and is hopped with Phoenix and Pioneer hops with a new Czech variety, Most. It has a big aroma and palate of vinous fruit, molasses and fruit cake. It’s available in selected branches of Waitrose.
Two superb Belgian beers are worth seeking out. De Dolle Brouwers – the Mad Brewers – of Esen produce Stille Nacht, 12 per cent, which has a vast fruity, malty and hoppy character. Sint Bernardus Christmas Ale, 10 per cent, comes from an Abbey brewery with close links to the Trappist monastery of Westvleteren. The beer is brewed with hops from the abbey’s own fields near Poperinge.
Both beers are available from specialist online retailers such as Wee Beer in Glasgow.
Merry Christmas!
