{"id":39656,"date":"2025-11-05T20:39:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T20:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/39656\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T20:39:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T20:39:17","slug":"san-franciscos-famed-craft-distillery-just-dropped-a-new-christmas-spirit-made-from-beer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/39656\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco\u2019s Famed Craft Distillery Just Dropped a New Christmas Spirit Made From Beer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is still a few weeks away, so naturally it\u2019s time to start talking about Christmas. And to get you into the spirit of the season, San Francisco distillery Hotaling & Co<\/a>. just announced the release of the 2025 edition of its Old Potrero Christmas Spirit, an expression that was distilled from beer and aged in used barrels.<\/p>\n

Hotaling & Co. used to be known as Anchor Distilling Company, which was founded in 1993 as an offshoot of Anchor Brewing as the distillery where Junipero Gin and Old Potrero Rye Whiskey would be made\u2014both early leading examples of craft versions of their categories. To the dismay of many beer fans, Sapporo, which owned Anchor Brewing, shut it down<\/a> in 2023 ending a run of almost 50 years of releasing its annual Christmas Ale (not to mention the iconic Anchor Steam Ale). That seasonal beer was an ale made from a secret recipe that changed from year to year, but often included things like orange or honeysuckle. In 2024, billionaire Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of Chobani yogurt, purchased the brewery<\/a>, but it as of this month it has not reopened\u2014and according to some reports<\/a>, it may never operate again.<\/p>\n

More from Robb Report<\/p>\n

Still, the distillery continues to make gin, rye whiskey, and sometimes other spirits that don\u2019t fit into these categories like Old Potrero Christmas Spirit. Last year\u2019s release was the first, distilled from San Francisco Christmas Ale from 2011\u00a0and aged for at least 12 years in once-used Old Potrero Straight Rye Whiskey barrels. This year\u2019s release differs in that it was distilled from San Francisco Christmas Ale from 2015 and aged for nine years in used Old Potrero barrels. \u201cThis special release brings together San Francisco\u2019s rich brewing traditions and pioneering distilling innovations into one very delicious whiskey designed to bring joy to the holiday season,\u201d said Liz Brusca, VP of marketing at Hotaling & Co., in a statement.<\/p>\n

We did not get to try this year\u2019s Christmas Spirit, but the official tasting notes sound, naturally, very Christmasy. The nose leads with a \u201cbouquet of spiced fruit cake, candied orange and evergreen,\u201d followed by \u201cflavors of sweet malt, baking spices, fresh ginger, and light oak\u201d on the palate. And each bottle features a little card on the neck in case you want to gift it to someone. You can purchase a bottle now from the Old Potrero website<\/a> (SRP $140), and you can find the rest of the portfolio at websites like ReserveBar<\/a> now.<\/p>\n

Best of Robb Report<\/p>\n

Sign up for RobbReports’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click here to read the full article. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is still a few weeks away, so naturally it\u2019s time to start talking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[27150,27153,27151,27152,27155,27154,27156,5274,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-39656","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-anchor-brewing","9":"tag-anchor-distilling-company","10":"tag-christmas-ale","11":"tag-christmas-spirit","12":"tag-hotaling-co","13":"tag-junipero-gin","14":"tag-old-potrero","15":"tag-release","16":"tag-san-francisco","17":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","18":"tag-san-francisco-news","19":"tag-sf","20":"tag-sf-headlines","21":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}