Last week, for the first time in my life, I bought a whole pomegranate.

My face must have showed immense pride. I wanted to share this moment with the grocer as they input the code — 3440. Unfortunately, I was using the self-checkout.

The decision to buy a pomegranate was part of a personal quest to eat more fruits in season. Until late November, it had all been about the apples. Now, I’ve diversified to pomegranates and satsuma mandarins.

Before delving further, let’s clarify that this is not an article about nutritious nibbles; it’s a piece about yuletide beverages, specifically festive brews.

During the Christmas period, you witness a wide variety of options ranging from the robust, ageless, comforting beers to the most gimmicky combinations of peppermint, eggnog, and hot chocolate, yet they remain endearing despite their gimmicks.

We consume seasonal fruits since they’re at their peak freshness. Festive beers are novel in a distinct way: they symbolize a brewer’s creativity, encapsulating the tastes and sentiments of the season and reviving familiar images, flavors, and aromas that are called forth only around this time by tradition and nostalgia.

Unlike wine, I don’t intend these brews to accompany specific dishes, although some might complement your Christmas feast quite well. I prefer to savor them based on the memories they conjure up in my mind, even ones dating back to times prior to my legal drinking age.

This roundup has to start with an American classic, a celebration of the hops that helped launch this craft beer thing, and an IPA that, with its ruby red label depicting a cozy, snow-covered log cabin, rings in the holidays.

For 42 years, the pioneering California brewery Sierra Nevada has put out the fresh-hopped “Celebration,” originally named in 1981 not for the holiday season but the September harvest season. The beer stands as the earliest, if not longest-running example of the American-style IPA. No orange juice haze. No mango or melon. Pure pine and caramel malt.

Sierra Nevada uses minimally processed hops — Cascade, Centennial and Chinook — keeping the whole-cone for the brew rather than having them chopped or pelletized.

“The whole-cone hop version is not only a nod to traditional beer brewing techniques, but it’s believed that whole-cone hops retain extra intensity and flavor and therefore impart more genuine hop character to the final beer,” communications director Ashlee Mooneyhan told me.

In September, the Sierra Nevada brewing team traverse the Pacific Northwest collecting hops for the Celebration beer, rushing to get them back to the brewery to retain all their fresh flavors.

“Upon arrival of the hops at the brewery, the diligent team jumps into action, preparing the unique equipment needed for dry-hopping this particular beer”, said Mooneyhan. “Despite being one of the most labor-intensive brews Sierra Nevada creates, it’s also one of the most awaited and talked-about beers annually.”

About three Thanksgivings ago, Christian McMahan, the co-founder of Double Down, realized his love for peppermint, given it was accompanied by chocolate. Someone brought peppermint bark to his home, a treat that completely captivated him.

“I promptly researched it, diving into its historic creation by Williams-Sonoma and its immense popularity in the US,” said McMahan about the delicacy. “The following Monday started with a conversation with our Head Brewer Brian Wells, where we concluded ‘we need to figure this out’.”

The “it” that McMahan and Wells finally cracked was the secret to creating the perfect peppermint-chocolate beer. They discovered that by brewing a stout with consecutive layers of dark chocolate, and bouncing it off with a fresh peppermint note for balance.

When you request “Peppermint Bark” at the Double Down’s Worcester taproom, which is connected to Peppercorn’s Grille & Tavern on Park Avenue, what you receive is a glass with a chocolate-enriched rim rolled in finely crushed peppermint candies.

Greg Carlson, the chief brewer at Redemption Rock, prefers beers that are strong and have a pronounced malt taste, especially around the holiday season.

Carlson was on a mission to find a lager to include in Redemption Rock’s December lineup. He found his muse in Biere de Noel, or Christmas beer, which is alternatively an ale. In keeping with tradition, brewers would announce the release of these special beers ahead of the holidays, as a token of celebration. These beers would often have a distinctive taste – either being quite rich or having a spicy note to them. Despite this, most of these special brews tend to be ales.

Carlson crafted Biere de Fete using the distinctive features of a Christmas ale, resulting in a tantalizing, malt-rich lager.

“Its aroma is distinctively spicy, complemented by full-bodied flavors of dark fruit and toffee. It provides just the right amount of sweetness and power to delight you during the festive season, without becoming overpowering, as that’s not our brewing style,” he mentioned.

The spice mix for Biere de Fete is locally sourced from Worcester’s SpiceNectar. They operate from the Worcester Food Hub, preparing a unique, hand-roasted combination of four spices: Ceylon cinnamon, cardamom, clove, and black pepper.

Dark, spiced Winter Warmer ales can invoke a yearning for a snowstorm, giving you an excuse to stay indoors – maybe perched on a wooden bench in a Barre barn — observing the snowfall, cherishing the tranquility.

Stone Cow has acknowledged the historic English tradition of wassail. This beverage, traditionally made from hot mulled cider, wine, or ale and sprinkled with spices, was shared from one household to another. Giving a wassail to your neighbor, Stone Cow co-founder Sean DuBois said, signified an omen for a bountiful harvest—an act the farm brewery highly values.

The Winter Wassail, attractively bottled, is brewed with distinct flavors of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, and then aged for a year nestled in American oak whiskey barrels accompanied by orange peel, cranberry, and honey.

The conclusion of my write-up occurs where I usually initiate the festive season with a bottle of Tröegs blend of cherry, honey and spice ale poured into an ornate chalice that I slowly sip while garnishing the Christmas tree.

Perhaps I joined the Mad Elf fan club a bit late, or perhaps my timing was perfect. In any case, this beer is meant to be enjoyed in the spirit of celebrations, brushing aside any worries or qualms.

The Pennsylvania brewer made the first batch of Mad Elf in 2002, and it proved mischievous from the outset.

Founders Chris and John Trogner retired for the night after adding the cherry and honey to the mix, according to Jeff Herb, Tröegs’ marketing and communications coordinator. When they returned, they found about half the batch spilling down a drain, with the fermentation cellar covered in a foamy mess.

“That didn’t deter them, though,” shared Herb. “They bottled it, and the rest is history. The Mad Elf is one of the beers that really helped put Tröegs on the map.”

The early recipe for Mad Elf called for 300 pounds of honey. Today, the recipe requires a whopping 25,000 pounds, harvested from the same beekeeper in Carlisle, Penn., and combined with five varieties of tree-ripened cherries.

The honey and cherries are paired with chocolate malt and a spicy Belgian yeast for the cheeriest beer — and at 11% ABV it will leave you cheery — you’ll find.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Beyond Beer: Five festive beers to help raise your holiday spirits