Most creative effort this year goes to Shiner Brewery for its Christmas Cheer --
"Until January, Shiner fans can make themselves merry with Shiner Cheer. The special brew, available through December, is basically Shiner’s Dunkel Weizen, or dark wheat beer, brewed with Stonewall peaches from the Texas Hill Country and pecans.
A few thousand pounds of the peaches were harvested for the brewery at their peak the second week of August, pitted and pureed by Austin’s Gourmet Resources and then put in the freezer.
The peach flavor is the high point, while the caramel-like brewer’s toffee provides a top note and the pecans add a subtle saltiness.
Cheer has been well-received and the brewery keeps making more batches. The good news is that rather than 450 pounds of frozen peaches left at the end of the year, Shiner expects there to be only 45 pounds left out of thousands. That will be made into ice cream for brewery employees."
