Another day, another blogmas post coming in just under the wire. I’m going to have to do a round up post on the social medias of all these late night blogmas posts, I think.

Today was a really great day, though. I have a holiday tradition of taking a day off work and going shopping with my dad to help him pick out gifts for my mom. I do a weekday morning workout class, my dad buys me a tea, we hit up a few stores, and then my parents and I go for a fun late lunch. This year, I took a Strength and Sweat class with the incredible Nicole Bouwman – I don’t get to take her class often because she teaches when I work. You should 100% take advantage of the thing I can’t do and take her Monday 0930 or Saturday 1030 class. I got my favourite Cardamom French Toast tea from David’s Tea, we bought my mom some very exciting gifts. And then we headed over to one of my local pubs, Penny Black, and I had a restaurant burger for the first time in ages. Delicious.

And now I’m going to write about a beer I was afraid of.

Day Six Clue

The Day Six Clue read “Did you say night-cap??” and I will be honest that I had no idea what this clue was leading up to. I also still might not know what it was referencing. Maybe the drink knocked that smart part of my brain out of my head?

Because once you follow me through the cut, you’ll understand why I say this.

Let me say, y’all, I have never been more glad that I have a beer advent calendar to fall back on during Blogmas. I know a lot of people pre-write their posts, but that isn’t for me, fam. I prefer to share my life as it is unfolding and also I prefer to live in a state of utter chaos. Because I make healthy choices. 

Anyway, today has been super full and tomorrow suggests it will be the same. Classic Saturday – working at Movelology, doing some Pilates, gluing a carpet back together, going to Rylee’s Christmas concert, buying bras… Tomorrow will be equally busy, full of barre, the Saskatoon Berry Farm holiday market, some crib, and recording MOA. I also have to watch the Shadowhunters episode by tomorrow and three movies for Academy versus Audience by Tuesday. So, as you can imagine, I’m very glad that I can write a short little post about beer today!

Let me take a minute to talk about Rylee’s Christmas concert first, though. Adorable. Toddlers are the cutest. But it definitely reinforced for me how young she is (she turns 3 at the end of the month). When I’m playing with her, I feel like she’s such a big kid and has grown up so much, but then I saw, like, the 4 year olds in her class and they were so much bigger. She’s very cute though. 

Also- parents of toddlers? Y’all should stop talking when the emcee is. Even if she has a microphone. Man, did the amount of people who kept talking give me anxiety… Anyway! Onto the beer!

Clue Five

Clue Five read “One toot is all you need”. I didn’t have a good immediate guess, but once again the Eighty-Eight website gave me a fairly good guess… 

You guys! I am hyyyyyypped to share this beer! It is Day Four of the Eighty-Eight Brewing advent calendar. All of the beers I’ve tried so far have been delicious (duh, I love this brewery), but this one? This one?! 

It is new to me and I am officially obsessed. People who read last year’s blogmas will probably be able to guess what type of beer it is, because I am nothing if not consistent in my tastes. But we’ll get to that. First I want to finally take the opportunity to talk about Eighty-Eight Brewing Company.

Eighty-Eight is a Calgary-based brewery that launched in 2018 – their name is a reference to ‘88 Winter Olympics which, of course, was in Calgary. The names of their beers are all throwback references to the 80s and their taproom is also evocative of that decade. We love to see a consistent theme! Eighty-Eight is dedicated to creating an inclusive environment and they put their money where their mouth is. Just check out their Community Partnerships on their website. LOVE IT.

The summer of 2020 is the first time I remember drinking an Eighty-Eight beer, though. I distinctly remember doing outdoor yoga with Megan and Claire, then swinging by a Bridgeland liquor store to grab something to drink on Megan’s outdoor patio as we all sat 6 feet apart. Instantly, I the cute design of the Tiffany can drew me in and I quickly became obsessed with the rose saison. In the spring of 2021, my dad and I did a zoom tasting of four Eighty-Eight beers with their brewer. It was shocking to discover how many of their IPA variations I liked. In the spring of 2022 when Moveology opened, I discovered their taproom was essentially just down the road and I was hooked.

And then. And then.

I found out that this company was co-founded by the husband of one of my best friends from junior high. Ugh. I love Calgary!

Day Four Clue

But enough about me, onto the beer. The Day Four clue read “Sneak away for some you-time this season”. Nothing immediately came to mind for me, but I checked out their taproom menu and happened to notice a little beer named “The Hall Pass”…