I’m often asked if I have a favorite beer or brewery. That’s a very difficult question to answer, but if I were to take a stab at a list of my favorite beers (it would be a long one, to be sure), I think Paper City Winter Palace Wee Heavy would appear near the top. It’s a beer I look forward to every holiday season, and I always find a way to get some, even down here while spending Christmas in Dixie.

The Paper City brewery of Holyoke, Massachusetts does very well with rich malty beers like their wee heavy. A delicious malty bock beer is also offered, one I’m extremely partial too. There beers are much sought after in New England, even in their home state of Massachusetts. For quite some time they weren’t even available statewide, though that has changed of late.

I visited the brewery a few years ago. It’s located in an old mill complex on an upper floor, and my beloved Barbara and I traveled up to the facility in a freight elevator along with assorted empty kegs and bags of grain. Immediately upon debarkation, one enters an area dedicated to local beer drinkers, who often visit to share a brew. It’s generously festooned with plenty of coasters, glasses, signs, and plenty of other breweriana.

The brewery gets its name from the fact that the city of Holyoke once had a large paper processing industry. The style (wee heavy) gets its name from the fact that this is rich beer with a potent alcohol content. "Wee", obviously, means small, and indicates this is not a beer to be drunk in large quantities. Heavy refers to the high gravity of the brew. It’s a Scottish style, and I like to salute the Scots by drinking Winter Palace in an authentic thistle-shaped Scotch ale glass.

Paper City Winter Palace Wee Heavy pours to a very dark brown color with almost no head and a very sweet malty nose. The palate is wonderfully nutty-malty, sticky and thick, hinting at molasses and chocolate, with a sweet finish that yields just a touch of hops and a respectable alcohol warmth. There's no smoke as you'll find in some American-brewed Scotch ales, just an extremely authentic wee heavy. This is my favorite domestically brewed Scotch ale.

This is not a beer to match with food. Rather it is a fine sipping brew for before or after a meal, or to serve as a restorative after a long day. It is the winter seasonal for this brewery, and is absolutely delightful sipped by the fireplace on a cold winter's night. An American classic.