ILKLEY Brewery are a wonderful local bunch, whose range of beers comprises both session ales with local flavour (see Mary Jane, and Joshua Jane, of Ilkley Moor fame) and some more experimental gems.

The Mayan, a chipotle and chocolate stout, was a recent special, and very special it was too, and Siberia, their one-off rhubarb saison was so delicious it’s been promoted to the status of core brew.

At Christmas, a festive beer with a pun in the name was required, and having Mary Jane and Stout Mary in the roster already, Ilkley had it perhaps a touch easier than some when it came to naming Mary Christmas.

A light golden ale ‘infused’ with Caribbean rum (although whether this is poured in following fermentation or through the addition of rum-soaked oak or similar isn’t certain), but there is a touch of honey-sweet rum in the aroma. Drying cut grass, bitter botanicals and tarragon play about the nose atop a pleasing malty background.

The flavour is surprisingly dry, far closer to a lager than a boozy Christmas beer, giving peach and spiced rum off in equal measure. Richly perfumed, there’s a suggestion of cascade or similar American hops in the long bitter finish, complimented by pine nuts and a clean crisp body.

• Recommended by Micheal Bates of The House Of Trembling Madness

Nogne O are one of Norway’s best-known real ale breweries outside of their native land. In fact as a brewery they export far more beer than they sell to the domestic market – perhaps in part due to the extraordinary tax applied to Norwegian alcoholic beverages.

Ironically enough, their wares are much cheaper in the UK than at home; a fact that vexes Norwegian visitors to the Trembling Madness every now and then, causing some to fill their suitcases up before returning home (if £5.70 a bottle sounds “a bit much”, in Norway this bottle would be two to three times this price – if you can find it on sale).

Underlig Jul is a light, sweet porter spiced with cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and all the other Christmas spices you can think of. This is pretty self-evident on opening, with fresh bountiful spices leaping out of the glass at the most cursory of nudges. The body is relatively light, making for easy drinking, and the prickly carbonation prevents any sense of over-indulgence that bogs down a lot of recklessly sweet Christmas ales.

The spices and malty ale combine to create an intense, bitter chocolate and gingerbread beer, with flourishes of botanical cola and liquorice. Easy drinking, yet complex, sweet and spicy – Underlig Jul is certainly my favourite Christmas beer, and is brilliant at cutting through the rich food that reigns supreme during the festive season, especially those covered in gravy, or Christmas pudding.

• Recommended by Michael Bates of The House of Trembling Madness, Stonegate, York.

WELL, Brewdog plumped for the simplest Christmas pun it seems, and get a D for seasonal beer naming as a result, but have they put a bit more effort into the beer itself?

 Well, thankfully the answer is yes. Rather than settling on a winter warmer of some sort, everyone’s most loved/ hated/apathy-inducing Scottish brewers have released a 7.2 per cent India pale ale hopped heavily to provide something light and fruity to cut through even the richest Christmas foods.

Hoppy Christmas pours golden straw, crystal clear (no bottle-conditioning from Brewdog) beneath a tight, white head.

The aroma is full-on Simcoe hops; bursting with pine, papaya, candied grapefruit, and a musky, almost savoury, chestnut-paté note.

The flavour takes this lead and races off into the distance – juicy mandarins, a candy-floss sweetness, and a sharp lemon tartness in the finish create an intense aromatic mouthful, and yet oddly the finish is not particularly bitter.

Yes, there is bitterness, but Hoppy Christmas is almost approachable, maybe even drinkable– it’s all about the flavour here, rather than some puerile boast about bitterness units.

It’s not been my favourite beer of the season (Nogne O’s Underlig Jul almost always wins this one, I’m afraid) but for a beer so atypical of the Christmas-cash-ins that flood the market every year, this one deserves to be tried. It’s not only an exception to the norm, it’s also a genuinely good beer.

• Recommended by Michael Bates of The House of Trembling Madness, Stonegate, York.

The article by Tony Naylor has done well in listing 10 craft beer bars. Of course we all have other personal favourites that aren't mentioned. To read the full article visit here.
Here's the snippet on the House. 

Even if you stand in the ground-floor off-licence (its stock of over 600 beers will leave you slack-jawed), it is quite possible not to notice that upstairs lies one of Britain's most idiosyncratic beer bars. Tucked into the exposed eaves of a 12th-century Norman house, decorated with animal skins and ancient taxidermy, the House of Trembling Madness is a tight, friendly squeeze where hop-heads linger over two cask ales (both from the wonderful Wild Beer Co on this visit), specialist draft Belgian beers and an amazing, ever-changing selection of bottled brews (on top of which, you can drink anything that is for sale downstairs, paying £1.25 corkage). If the staff can't surprise you with something – say, a Japanese Hitachino Nest Classic Ale – you've officially exhausted the possibilities of beer. Braver drinkers can try a yard of ale (£9) or a 25ml shot (£8) of the Dutch brewer 't Koelschip's 70% strength beer. Luckily, HoTM also serves gutsy, good-value food to soak up all that alcohol.

If that all sounds a bit crusty for you, a bit Time Team, you may prefer the nearby Sotano (Little Stonegate, 01904 620230), a chic, subterranean, late-night drinking den, which majors on tapas, cocktails, and, mainly US and British, craft keg beers. Which are served in two-thirds of a pint schooners (from £3.80). Get them. 
• 48 Stonegate, 01904 640009, tremblingmadness.co.uk. Pint from £3.50

Ska Brewing are an American company located in California, perhaps best known in the UK for their India pale ale Modus Hoperandi, a deliciously hop-forward ale, however we recently received some more of their wares in-store, including this intriguing stout.

Now, yes it is in a can, but unlike those cheap plastic lagers the cans used by some UK, and many US, craft breweries tend to be filtered less aggressively, rarely pasteurised, and sometimes even retain their yeast sediment.

They’re easier to transport, light-tight so the beer cannot possibly be damaged by sunlight, and chill much quicker; perfect for when you need a beer sooner rather than later.

Vernal Minthe Stout is a robust stout brewed with cacao nibs and vanilla, nothing too ‘out there’ so far, and dosed generously with spearmint and peppermint. Pouring a deep chocolate brown, with a thick tan head, you’d struggle to not notice the mint: a strong aroma of wheetos and spearmint gum hits the nose immediately, with some underlying buttermilk crumpets suggesting the beer’s richness that lies beneath the adjuncts.

Light-bodied with a pleasing soft carbonation, this beer starts sweet, think after-eight mints to begin with, until the cacao’s bitterness and the roasted malts combine to give a suggestion of liquorice and tobacco. The overall impression is not dissimilar to menthol snuff; minty tobacco, at once revitalising and stimulating, coupled with a slight tang in the finish.

Recommended by Michael Bates