5 ways to enjoy the perfect winter beer

The next time you raise a toast over the holidays, consider pouring beer in those glasses. According to beer writer and educator Jason Foster, it's the perfect pairing for happy celebrations and big meals.

"Winter beer is a beer designed for winter," Foster said. "It's a way to warm us up on those cold nights, give us a sense of coziness, and make us feel like being cold isn't such a bad thing after all."

Here are five tips for enjoying a winter beer.

1) Choose a beer that allows you to feel those warm on those cold days. 

Foster says these beers tend to be fuller in body, more towards the malty end and often are a little darker. A higher alcohol content can also help you feel warmed up. 

You can also find spiced beer, with some of the mulling spices like cinnamon and clove.

"Just to kind of create a whole other dimension to the beer," he said. "It can be quite fun."

2) Eating ham? Pair it with a German style wheat beer.

Foster said the German style wheat beer is "light bodied, but it has a spicy kind of character that will bounce off with the ham."

3) Eating turkey? Pair it with an amber red lager.

Foster said the Paddock Wood red hammer from the Saskatoon brewery is a perfect pairing for a turkey dinner.

"Caramel kind of note to it, but not overpowering of the turkey," he said.

4) Eating sweets? Pair it with a stout.

Foster said often with desserts we have coffee, and a stout is the natural beer equivalent. 

"It's got that sort of a roasty, sort of coffee-like node as well, some chocolate-y notes as well sometimes," he said.

Foster recommended the stout from Black Bridge Brewery in Swift Current, Sask. 

5) Looking for something lighter? Try one of the latest low alcohol beers.

Foster said interesting developments in the craft beer movement is the new low alcohol beers.

"They're starting to recognize that people are out and about, they want to enjoy flavour, but at the same time don't want to over-indulge," he said. "So they've been making sort of lighter, yet fuller flavoured kind of versions of their beer." 

The India session ale is a low alcohol version of an India pale ale. 

6) Looking for an alternative to bubbly wine? Drink a Belgian triple.

Foster calls the Belgian triple the "champagne of beer." It is traditionally styled, but still has bubbles. It also runs around nine or 10 per cent. 

"So you also get that little bit of that sort of New Years Eve warming."