There was a time when Samichlaus was a big deal, although I’ll concede that in this crazed and jaded age of all-purpose excess, beers of a mere 14% abv tend to turn very few heads.
Back in 1994, subversive beer-volutionaries (like me) cherished Samichlaus not only for its alcoholic strength — at the time it was regarded as tops on the planet — but also for singular excellence, and a unique back story from a country not noted for brewing prowess.
In its original incarnation, Samichlaus, or “Santa Claus,” was brewed once yearly on December 6 (St. Nicholas Day) at the Hürlimann Brewery in Zürich, Switzerland. The annual ritual began in 1980 and lasted until 1996; shortly thereafter the brewery was closed following merger, and four years later the recipe (and more importantly, the necessary yeast strain) was acquired by the Schloss Eggenberg brewery in nearby Austria, where it has been brewed...
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