Beer: 4 Calling Birds

Made by: The Bruery; Placentia, Calif.

Website: thebruery.com

Rating: 3½ pints out of 5

Beer review: This is one holiday tradition that I need to start in my home. Having tried 2 Turtle Doves, I jumped at 4 Calling Birds. Yes, I missed Partridge in a Pear Tree and Three French Hens.

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Kevin Brooks from Shelton Brothers Importers will be on hand to feature three Shelton imports on tap, according to Black & Blue co-owner Larry Porter. The featured beers will be the Belgian Christmas ales de Struise Tsejeeses and De Ranke Pere Noel and Jen Lain Noel, a French farmhouse style Christmas beer.

The featured Christmas ales will join what has been an impressive lineup this month at Black & Blue, including St. Bernardus Christmas, Delirium Noel, Ommegang Adoration Ale, Unibroue Ephemere Casis, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, Ommegang 3 Philosophers Quadrupel and Gouden Carolus Tripel.

Black & Blue seems to have tapped into a niche beer market here in the Lehigh Valley, according to Porter. There are no real Belgian beer bars in the area, Porter said, and they're killing kegs in three days.

Ed Sieger's column of beer reviews and local beer news appears every two weeks in EXPOSED. He can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at esieger@express-times.com.