Type Pale ale Maker Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., California Alcohol 5.6 percent Cost $8 for a six-pack at Total Wine   This is an easy pick - it has inspired countless clones, and it's a benchmark in American brewing. Like Anchor's Steam Beer, it's one of the first craft ales and gives a lesson in balance and drinkability.

Eric Trotman Special to Link It's Christmas Eve. You're with family and friends by the tree, near a fire, with food and gifts. What's missing? A great beer, of course.

Almost every brewery has a Christmas beer. With names like Samichlaus, Lump of Coal, Santa's Butt and St. Nicholas Bock, these brews are cheerful, typically strong, and full of flavors and spices.

By Jim Raper WHAT GIFTGIVERS need this year for the wine fancier is something that has expensive cachet, but not high cost. I was thinking about this the other day when I received a promotional package from the good folks at Acacia Vineyard based in northern California's Los Carneros region, which includes southern portions of both Napa and Sonoma valleys.

Eric Trotman Special to Link Nothing typical here.

For years, Belgian brewers have been inventing styles. Beer brewed with rock candy, raspberries or coriander? They do that. Orange peel and wild, airborne bacteria? That, too. We Yankees might think we invented "extreme" beer, but the Belgians are the original extreme brewers.

Karen Haram  |  San Antonio Express-News Whether this is the first, fifth or 50th Thanksgiving dinner you've prepared, a refresher course is in order. After all, you only make this dinner once a year, you're usually cooking for more than just immediate family, and guests consider this is a special meal.

Dead Guy Ale Type Maibock Maker Rogue Ales, Newport, Ore. Alcohol 6.5 percent Cost $6 a pint at Sobo Pizza Kitchen & Ale House, 4412 Monarch Way, Norfolk

Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones Port Folio Weekly Ahhh, autumn. A great time of year for beer lovers. The leaves turn amber and russet, the wind snaps a chilly tune and better beer retailers’ shelves are lined with a plethora of pumpkin beers beckoning with whispers of malt and spice and promises of tantalizing taste.

Just in time for this weekend's wine festival, meet five local connoisseurs -- under the age of 40 --  who share their stories, wine suggestions, plus find tasting tips for novices at  LINK.   Want to go to the Virginia Wine Festival at Town Point Park? Get admission, hours and the details on what's happening.

By Jim Raper I KNOW OF VERY FEW people who collect Virginia wines, although there are plenty of wine fanciers in these parts who drink the state's wines and are wowed by a bottle now and again. These folks save their cellar space for wines known to be ageworthy - the stellar bottles from Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhone Valley, Tuscany, Ribera Del Duero, Oporto and so forth.

By Jim Raper The interactive map at the state's official wine Web site,  might make you think that the Virginia wine boom has bypassed South Hampton Roads and that our residents don't have much reason to celebrate Virginia Wine Month each October.