Editor’s Note: Today starts our Twelve Days of Christmas series on Pints and Steins – where we’ll be letting you know about a winter beer every day between now and Christmas Eve.

In today’s twelve days of Christmas celebrations entry, we look at a new-ish brewery in Portland called Ecliptic Brewing. Located in North Portland, Ecliptic is known for high quality ales no matter what time of year you check out their brewing line-up.

Typically ‘winter beers’ mean dark, malty beers that are also called winter warmers. They’re strong in alcoholic content and rely upon toasted malts do drive home, big, robust flavor.

Ecliptic bucks this trend with Filament Winter IPA. Filament pours a beautiful clear-amber color that has copper hues and a white foam.

The description on the bottle puts it very well:

As the winter sun hangs low in our sky, some 93 million miles away, solar filaments, giant arcs of cool, dense plasma explode from its surface. Filament Winter IPA celebrates this cosmic wonder. Pale, Munich and Caramel malts create a rich malt character with a honey-like flavor. A bounty of Crystal, Chinook and Centennial hops combine to lend spicy, citrus hop notes.

Filament IPA comes in at 7.2% ABV and has 70 IBUs.

At first sip, you pick up on a slight grapefruit and citrus scents and a bit of pine. The flavor, in a word, is outstanding – as a bread-like taste comes in and finishes with a slight caramel malt after-taste.

This beer is super drinkable – and those who don’t like hop-forward bitterness should not be put off by the 70 IBUs – this is a well balanced beer that is not hoppy at all. It’s super smooth from start to finish.

Whereas some winter beers overdo it with the spices, Filament bucks this trend with a flavorful IPA with malts that provide a symphony of malt sweetness.

Should I buy Filament IPA?

Yes, absolutely. Pick up a bomber (22 oz) bottle or if you can find it on draft – order and enjoy.

Tags: Ecliptic, Ecliptic Brewing, Filament Winter IPA, Twelve Beers of Christmas 2016