Chatting about the joy of winter beers with Craig Thomas, Master Cicerone

It’s winter, time to curl up by a crackling fire with a blanket and a hot cup of cocoa.

Or if you happen to be a beer lover, perhaps a glass of pitch-black, high-octane beer – peanut-butter stout, maybe, or oak-smoked doppelbock – that will warm you from the inside out.

The coldest months are peak season for winter beers, a slightly amorphous category defined by production date, alcohol content and spice flavors that can resemble a mincemeat pie.

Enjoyed hundreds of years ago in societies such as English and Norse, these tipples fell into a lag only to see a resurgence in the 1970s as “winter warmers” or “Christmas beers.” They became a hit in the U.S. after San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing released its Christmas ale in 1975, and today include the likes of Sierra Nevada’s Celebration IPA, Allagash Brewing’s Ski House and Deschutes Brewery’s Jubelale.

With a short window to shop for these liquid treats — whose flavor profiles can be intimidating, ranging from dark chocolate to gingerbread to peppermint candy – how should you decide what to sample? Here to help is Craig Thomas, who knows a little something about beer, given his role as a Master Cicerone.

Thomas is a former sensory-research analyst at Firestone Walker Brewing Co. who now works at Abstrax Hops, a company that develops flavor and aroma extracts for the beverage industry. He lives in Templeton, near Paso Robles. In 2023, Thomas made beery history by earning the title of Master Cicerone from the Cicerone Certification Program. It’s the fourth, and final, tier of the program; of the 150,000 people worldwide who’ve successfully ranked as a Cicerone, only 28 (including Thomas) have made it to this highest level.

What, exactly, is a Master Cicerone? Think of it as an exceptional beer sommelier who’s verified through written, oral and sensory testing. “It recognizes an exceptional understanding of brewing, beer and pairing — combining outstanding tasting abilities with an encyclopedic knowledge of commercial beers,” according to trade publication Craft Brewing Business.

Recently, Thomas took the time to talk about the Cicerone program and about the joy of winter beers, and to recommend a couple of his favorites.

Q: Is becoming a Master Cicerone as difficult as everyone says?

A: It’s the hardest test I’ve ever done, including any final I had during my (history) master’s degree. I don’t know if anyone’s passed the first time – maybe one or two? I passed the second time I took it.

Q: What’s it involve?

A: All of the beer canon is basically encompassed in the program. So you have to be very well-studied, not only in the production side and ingredients side, but also in serving and dispensing and the presentation of beer and food pairings. You have to pack a lot of information into your head, and you have to be able to talk about it in both the technical fashion but also very eloquently, in a consumer-facing way that appeals to your average beer connoisseur.

Q: Did you have to taste a lot of beer for the exam, you poor guy?

A: You have to memorize all the different styles of beer as defined by the certification program. There are over a hundred, and you have to know their specifications when it comes to their alcohol levels, color, bitterness. … And the tasting exams are all blind. The whole point is that you’re able to identify what’s in the glass without knowing what it is. There are also “off flavors,” which they spike into the beer for you to pick out.

Q: “Off flavors”?

A: Yes. There’s a specific compound in beer that’s widely considered to be very important from a quality measure. It’s called diacetyl. And when you smell it, it’s the exact smell of buttered popcorn. It’s a key component in a lot of Chardonnays. But in beer, 99% of the time, diacetyl is considered to be an unappealing flavor. … It’s a blessing and a curse if you train yourself to identity a compound like diacetyl, as you find it in a lot of different places and it will ruin a lot of beers for you.

Then there’s “infection,” which is not a specific compound but usually a bacterial infection in beer. It usually showcases as a sour vinegar-like note, and is usually because of poorly cleaned draft lines. … The crusade I’ve embarked upon since studying for Master Cicerone is that I believe there is a big problem in draft-beer dispense within the U.S. Draft-line cleaning is a very critical component of brewing, and of serving beer in its best light, and it’s underappreciated or frankly ignored among most establishments.

Q: To switch gears, what do you know about winter beer?

A: I would say it’s a very loose style, or not even a style. It’s just something that a lot of breweries do in their own fashion, and everybody’s taken their own interpretation of it. In the olden days, a lot of winter beers were conceptualized as stronger with more alcohol. They put you in that space, where you’re eating cake or gingerbread next to a fire and a Christmas tree. The higher alcohol and the spices in the beer – if you get some nice caramel or gingerbread characteristics — it all just fits into that atmosphere.

Q: What kind of spices are typically added?

A: Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, orange peel, ginger — there’s no necessary rule to what you can put into a Christmas ale. The best I would say is peppermint. But there are a number of brewers who go in a different direction and say, “It’s not going to be spiced. We’re just going to make a unique IPA that we’re only serving around Christmas time.”

Q: What foods do winter beers pair well with?

A: Ham would be really good, especially if you’re putting any kind of cloves on it. But it’s always going to depend on what the actual winter warmer is, right? If it’s an IPA or one of those spiced beverages, any classic Christmas entree will fit with them. If you get a lighter style — something along the lines of Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome — I would pair that with a roast turkey. Then for the darker ones out there, like Deschutes Brewery’s Jubelale which is maltier with some chocolate notes, that would work for prime rib, especially if you did a coffee crust.

Q: Would you like to throw out some winter recommendations?

A: Sierra Nevada’s Celebration IPA is just an exceptional beer from start to finish — it’s worth trying regardless of anything. Every brewer I know always enjoys tasting this year’s Celebration. St. Bernardus is a brewery out of Belgium, and they do a Christmas ale every year. It’s very high ABV, usually around 10%, and typically has a nice spice character. And Belgian beers often use dark-candy sugar, which lends a not-quite-molasses, but toasted-rich-caramel note that works in harmony with these beer styles. I think you can find it at Trader Joe’s.

The last one might be a bit harder to find, but look in specialty shops. It’s called Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier, and it’s from a brewery in Bamberg, Germany. They kiln their malts with beachwood, so they make unique but glorious smoked beer. Smoked beers are very polarizing for most people, but I adore them, particularly with a beer they only release around Christmas (Aecht Schlenkerla Oak Smoke). It’s a doppelbock with 8% ABV, and it’s like drinking candy bacon.

– Connect with Craig Thomas, and ask your own beer questions, at instagram.com/peopleaskme