When winter beers start showing up

The first winter and holiday label Hop Grail saw this year belongs to 12 Days of Christmas Ale from The Bruery, label approved May 28, 2026. That is the first this year, not necessarily the first ever.

May. For a Christmas beer. I'm telling you, the winter beers 2026 season started before summer did.

Labels are often approved well before a beer is announced, so this is where the season shows up first.

A few to watch

Here are a few labels from the season so far, in no particular order.

  • Holiday Fruit Monster, Great Notion Brewing & Barrel House (OR). Fruited Sour, 6.1% ABV. Label approved Sep 23, 2026.
  • Christmas Jam IPA, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (CA). IPA, 6.2% ABV. Label approved Sep 28, 2026.
  • 12 Days of Christmas Ale, The Bruery (CA). Dubbel, 7.1% ABV. Label approved May 28, 2026.
  • Winter Quadrupel, New Belgium Brewing (CO). Quad or Belgian Strong Ale, 9.7% ABV. Label approved Jun 12, 2026.
  • Christmas Ale, New Trail Brewing (PA). Spiced / Pumpkin / Honey, 5.6% ABV. Label approved Aug 28, 2026.
  • Winner Winter Wheat, The Crossing at Big Creek Brewery (AL). American Wheat, 6.4% ABV. Label approved Aug 12, 2026.

What a label approval tells you

An approved label means the brewery got the label approved for sale. It doesn't say when or where the beer will be sold.

So read each date above as a sign that a beer is in the pipeline, nothing more.

What we don't know yet

Release dates. Prices. Where any of these beers will be sold. How they taste, since nobody at Hop Grail has tasted them.

The full list is below the article, and it keeps growing as new labels are approved.