Rapidly vanishing ales

Beer news breaks everywhere in late November, it seems. From Cleveland to Dublin to Westvleteren, some ale is pouring in the public consciousness. Follow for highlighted text for some beer unpleasantness - in some way, each story revolves around someone not receiving a healthy dose of ale.

The Wall Street Journal pursues the rare Belgian Trappist ales from the St. Sixtus Abbey - and only ones I've not sampled - and explains why its monk producers refuse to cave into demand.
Thanks to various beer rating sites labeling Westvleteren 12 as the best beer in the world, everyone who's ever visited a brewpub wants a bottle. That has made the beer, available only at the monastery gates, a commodity, going for as much as $20 a bottle.


How does someone steal 450 kegs of Guinness from inside St. James' Gate? In our fear-fueled world, apparently no one thought to lock it.A crafty thief drove right up and hitched his truck to a trailer ready to distribute them around Dublin. It's a record theft in the brewery's nearly 250-year run, and Irish eyes won't be smiling in those pubs waiting for their share of stout.

As for that Great Lakes Christmas Ale I greedily downed while in Columbus, The Plain Dealer warns me not to expect it when I'm back for New Year's Eve.

No other winter warmer balances spices so delicately and produces a beer that would not feel out of place anytime during the year. No other $10 six-pack helps me forget its price tag so quickly. The ginger, honey and cinnamon mix so effortless that most other holiday seasonals taste excessively spiced or mundane by comparison.

Great Lakes increased production by 30 percent this year, yet the Christmas Ale has grown immensely popular - buy it now if you want it warming you on Christmas Eve.

Due to the American honey shortage, the brewers were concerned they might have not enough to brew the Christmas Ale. They pulled through, and within weeks there will be empty shelves where the six-packs once sat.

As always, beer lovers must be thankful for the time they've had with Great Lakes Christmas Ale, not the time demand has denied them.