Strong, smoky, and seasonal

One way to make a beer stronger is to concentrate the liquid by freezing out the water. Legend has it, writes Horst Dornbusch in ''Prost!," his book about German beer, that this method was discovered around 1890 when a tired brewery apprentice left some casks of fermented bock beer out in the cold (what, you thought Budweiser invented ice beer?). Kulmbacher Eisbock (about $2 for an 11.2-ounce bottle, La Resistance, 413-420-0188) weighs in at 9.2 percent alcohol. Coffee-colored, with a very malty, herby aroma, the beer also has ''elements of honey and molasses" and finishes with a smooth, vodka-like alcohol component, Dornbusch says. Serve with game.

Another ice beer, this one made from a wheat bock, is Aventinus Weizen Eisbock (about $4.50 for an 11.2-ounce bottle, Craft Brewers Guild, 866-782-7238). It is 11.5 percent alcohol but has a surprisingly light body, Dornbusch says. The Aventinus has a strongly aromatic clove nose (typical of a Weissbier) and a slight raspberry taste upfront. ''The middle taste is dominated by notes of caramelized brown sugar, and it ends on a viniferous note with a hint of vanilla," Dornbusch says.

Vegetarians who miss that meat flavor will love Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock (about $4 for a 25-ounce bottle, Craft Brewers Guild). This medium-bodied smoke beer (6.5 percent alcohol) has a nose that combines bacon with burned fireplace logs. All the dominant flavors are smoky, and ''because this Urbock is very powerful," Dornbusch says, ''it can go only with equally powerful, hearty foods, such as smoked pork or smoked Westphalian ham; it's too powerful for Christmas goose or fish -- even smoked salmon." Dornbusch suggests Stilton cheese.

Christmas comes but once a year, and so does Samichlaus (about $5 for an 11.2-ounce bottle, Atlantic Importing Co., 508-229-0014). Originally from Switzerland (''Samichlaus" means ''St. Nicholas" in Swiss German) and now made in Austria, the beer is brewed every year on Dec. 6, St. Nicholas Day, and aged for 10 months. Dornbusch says the 2003 Samichlaus is ''cognac-colored, with a medium body and notes of cinnamon and citrus in the nose." A slight taste of orange peel up front changes to burnt sugar in the middle. It finishes with a warm cognac glow. Though 14 percent alcohol, it's well balanced and delicate. It goes well with peach- and pear-flavored desserts as well as with rum-soaked fruitcake. ''A great replacement for port," Dornbusch says.