IF you ask me, breweries and beer shops should do Advent calendars. A crate of 24 bottles, numbers on the top, and hey presto – the countdown to Christmas becomes instantly more enjoyable!

Because if the big day itself doesn’t get you excited enough, then December brings an added treat for real ale fans in the form of Christmas specials. Breweries up and down the country get into the festive spirit and produce some cracking beers that you simply can’t get at any other time of the year.

I spotted my first last week at the Waggon and Horses in Lawrence Street, where Batemans’ Rosey Nosey is making its annual appearance, complete with flashing pump-clip. But there are many more to come, both there and elsewhere. The Red Lion in Merchantgate is holding a Christmas Yorkshire Ale Festival next Friday to Sunday, while The Slip in Clementhorpe is holding a Winter Festival on the Friday and Saturday, again with lots of festive specials.

Both promise to be great events, in pubs that are both under relatively new management. The Red Lion changed hands in September and is now run by Becca Turner, who is working hard to improve the ale selection, while The Slip has changed hugely since long-serving landlady Brenda Robison said her goodbyes back in January.

Its festival list has 20 Yorkshire ales including some Christmas specials, and all look ideal for the early blast of winter we’re enduring (or enjoying, depending on your viewpoint).

Highlights include Scrooge’s Special from Rudgate Brewery; 5 Wold Rings from Wold Top; Dr Morton’s Reindeer Repellent from Abbeydale; Advent Ale from Salamander; Nervous Turkey from Ossett; White Out from Brown Cow; Blizzard from Summerwine; and Ale Mary from Leeds.

If those don’t whet your appetite, then a hat-trick of specials from Roosters in Knaresborough just might. The first is a Bladnoch 1990 Whisky Barrel Aged Stout, at six per cent. That’s followed by an American Pale Ale at five per cent. And finally, they are rounded off with Juniper IPA, again at five per cent.

It will be interesting to see how The Slip gets on with this, its first stand-alone festival. It did well when it teamed up with its neighbour and sister pub, The Swan, in September but this will be its first crack at going solo. Hopefully many people will take the chance to head along because, as I say, the pub has changed a lot in the past 12 months. The back room has been opened up, a new side-room created, the garden rearranged (it will include a heated marquee next weekend), and the whole pub generally given a new lick of paint. Beer-wise, the emphasis is now much more on real ale than before and it seems to be going down well. Landlord Paul Crossman says trade has roughly trebled, and they’ve just been rewarded by being named York Camra’s town pub of the season.

The presentation will be made next Friday if you want to join the festivities early.

Shorts

• Remaining on a festive theme… If you can beat the snow, the Village Inn, Wilberfoss, has a “Merryfossmas Beer Festival” this weekend, while The Lamb And Lion in York has a festival special, aptly named for landlord Jack Merry… Thornbridge Merrie. The Old White Swan, in Goodramgate, meanwhile should soon have Thornbridge Wild Holly.

• If the beers don’t appeal, the Three Tuns in Coppergate has some mulled cider which has been hugely popular and which smells fantastic (I’ve not yet tried it myself). Landlord Jason Hawkins is adamant that those who try it won’t go back to mulled wine.

• Thomas’s Bar in Museum Street has reopened following a refurbishment, but as Mojito, which bills itself as a Mexican restaurant, tequila bar and coffee lounge. They had Black Sheep on tap, but the general focus now seems to have moved away from beer. The Royal Oak in Goodramgate is, at least, due to reopen next weekend.