The Beer Grinch's Stocking Stuffers -- and a plug for local liquor stores that sell good beer.

For the first time in a long while, I didn’t make much of an effort this year to stock a range of bottled Christmas and winter seasonals at Rich O’s, which I’d done in the past primarily as a courtesy for carryout sales and gift giving during the holiday season.

Part of the reason for this is the advent of Saturnalia, which provides another draft (i.e., bread and butter for us in terms of sales) marketing opportunity alongside Gravity Head and Lupulin Land.

More significantly, this decision owes to the far better bottled beer selections being offered at local package stores. We’ve never had it this good on the Indiana side of the Ohio.

It’s hard to choose between Bridge Liquors (State Street, New Albany) and The Keg Liquors (Lewis & Clark Parkway, Clarksville) when it comes to beer selection, but it should suffice to say that both are offering extensive choices in the familiar craft beer categories.

Old Mill Wine & Spirits (Charlestown Road, New Albany; its web site seems to have disappeared) and Hunter Station Liquors (Hunter Station Road, Sellersburg) retain competitive beer stocks, though not to the level of Bridge and The Keg.

At Rich O’s, I decided to pick and choose a few relatively rare beers (and accompaniments) to feature as something I’m calling “The Beer Grinch’s Stocking Stuffers,” and I expect to expand on this idea next year during holiday season. The basic idea is to hoard a few hard-to-get items of interest to the advanced beer lover, and make them available during the week before Christmas.

Consequently, here’s what I have on the Beer Grinch table for your consideration:

$3.50 each or 4 for $12.00 – Assorted signature glassware basket, which will be replenished as depleted according to random selection.

$10 – Alaskan Smoked Porter (22 oz)

$15 – T-shirt (Saturnalia long sleeve; “Red Room” Rich O’s; NABC “I’m for It”)

$20 – Peche Mortel Imperial Coffee Stout (22 oz)
$20 – Three Floyds Behemoth Barley Wine (22 oz)

$35 – Tim Webb’s new 2005 edition of “Good Beer Guide to Belgium,” paperback.

Your patronage is much appreciated – and, of course, I get to keep leftovers for myself …