2025 Truebru Advent Exchange Lineup

This page features the full list of beers and brewers participating in this year’s TrueBrü Advent Beer Exchange.
Each participant contributed 24 bottles or cans of the same brew to exchange with others, creating unique advent-style cases filled with local home-brewed creations.

Find the name on the bottle you are pouring below to read the brewer’s full description, ingredients, and notes about their brew. Happy Holidays and Thank you all for being a part of our first ever Advent Exchange! 

Name: Tyler Truebru
Style: British Brown Ale
Beer name: Gingersnap Brown
ABV: 5.9%
Description: A classic British Brown Ale with a subtle seasonal holiday inspired twist brewed with a traditional grain bill and enhanced with gingersnap cookies and a touch of flaked rye in the mash. A small addition of molasses added at flame out brings warmth and depth without overpowering the base style.

Name: Kyle M
Style: X Mas Saison
Beer name: Kitchen Sink Saison
ABV: 8.1%
Description: Kitchen sink saison with holiday spices added. Click HERE to view the Brewfather recipe.

Name: Jim Nickel
Style: American Amber Ale
Beer name: Aurora Amber
ABV: 6.2%
Description: A malty beer brewed with homegrown Cascade hops added during secondary.

Name: Mike Borchert
Style: Breakfast Stout
Beer name: Mike’s Breakfast Stout
ABV: 7.9%
Description: Founders KBS clone without the Bourbon, Chocolate coffee, or lactose. UPDATE FROM MIKE: BOTTLES SEEM TO BE OVER CARBONATED. PLEASE OPEN CAREFULLY. BOTTLES MAY GUSH!

Name: James Werner
Style: Cider
Beer name: Heritage Cider
ABV: 6.8%
Description: A semi sweet cider made from a blend of heirloom apples.

Note from Tyler: I wanted to note that James was recently awarded National Cidermaker of the Year for a second time in 2025. You can find the link HERE to the most recent National Homebrew Competition Major Awards. Congrats to James and thanks for being a part of our Exchange!

Name: Pat Lafferty
Style: Chocolate IPA
Beer name: Triple Black Diamond
ABV: 9.7%
Description: This is an extract beer with Carafa III, chocolate rye, and flaked rye steeped for an hour before the boil. It uses a ton of Citra for bittering and Cascade for aroma and Omega's DIPA yeast. It's weird (and expensive), but I love it.

Note From Tyler: Our good friend Pat Lafferty is hosting a really cool local event that dives into the history of beer styles, starting with one of the most talked about modern creations, the Milkshake IPA. He’s calling it The Evolution of Style and it happens Tuesday, December 2nd at North Pillar Brewing. You’ll get to taste your way through several historical beer styles leading up to a true Milkshake IPA, with some rare pours along the way. We’ve heard whispers of samples from Tree House Brewing and Tired Hands Brewing, which will definitely excite the craft beer crowd. Tickets are limited and only $25 in advance, so grab your spot early if you want to join the fun. Click HERE to lock in your spot! I will personally be there and I absolutely appreciate Pat's appreciation for the craft. Super cool he is doing something like this so jump in if you haven't already! 

Name: Justin Lopina
Style: Kolsch
Beer name: Firefly Kolsch
ABV: 4.6%
Description: A standard Kolsch by all accounts, but primed with hot honey, giving it a slightly smoother flavor as well as a hint of heat.

Name: Samuel Lux
Style: Pear Graf
Beer name: Hoppy Pear Ale
ABV: 6.5%
Description: Home Grown Pears, Home Malted Red-Wheat Adjuncts.

Note from Tyler: One of you will receive a different brew from Sam and it will have a special note attached to it with its own description. Ran short 1 bottle at packaging! 

Name: Ludwig Enghofer
Style: Oatmeal Stout
Beer name: Not provided
ABV: 5.1%
Description: Typical Stout with oatmeal, chocolate and roasted malts. EKG hops for flavor.

Name: Scott Goebel
Style: Imperial Stout
Beer name: Mexican Cake
ABV: 9.5%
Description: Stout with cocoa nibs cinnamon vanilla and habanero.

Name: Mark C
Style: IPA
Beer name: MC Special
ABV: 7.5%
Description: Brewed with Apollo Centennial and Columbus hops.

Name: Chris Melville
Style: Juniper IPA
Beer name: Not provided
ABV: 7.2%
Description: Experimental IPA using locally foraged juniper berries split between whirlpool and dry hop.

Name: Brian Smith
Style: Maple Bacon Coffee Porter
Beer name: Christmas Breakfast
ABV: 5.8%
Description: I promise I named this beer before Tyler started the Advent Beer Share! The last few years I have made a winter beer to gift my friends for Christmas. This year I wanted to try a real "extra" porter with all the flavors. It starts with a basic rich, dark porter recipe. Although, using a good amount of cherrywood smoked malt amped things up already. Then maple syrup, crispy maple bacon (more smoky flavor), and ground coffee (only subtle in the final flavor) went into the secondary, and more maple syrup was used for priming. The result is an entire Christmas breakfast in a bottle. Quite enjoyable! It pours a great chocolatey head, which dissipates quickly. Hopefully that stabilizes a bit more. Enjoy!

Name: Todd Kreisler
Style: Winter Spiced Ale
Beer name: Spicy Yule Log Ale (not that I have a log)
ABV: 7.22%
Description: Dark ale with spices to warm you by an open fire while you sit and daydream of happy holiday memories. Or just slam it with your dinner some random night in leading up to the holidays. Roasty notes of malt mixed with cinnamon, clove and ginger.

Name: Tony Menzel
Style: Flanders Red
Beer name: Not provided
ABV: 9.0%
Description: Five year old Flanders Red aged in solera.

Name: Rich Venske
Style: Coffee Porter
Beer name: Not provided
ABV: 6.6%
Description: Dark & rich with a perfect hint of cold brew coffee notes.

Name: Jerry Stoecklein
Style: Cranberry Sour
Beer name: Sour Zombie
ABV: 4.5%
Description: Cranberry sour.

Name: Ryan Schramm
Style: NEIPA
Beer name: 1125
ABV: 8.6
Description: Sauce of the Month - November 2025 Edition 

Note from Tyler: One of you will receive a different brew from Ryan and it will have a special note attached to it with its own description. Ran short by 1 can! 

Name: Jason Geidel
Style: English Mild
Beer name: Figgy Pudding
ABV: 4.2%
Description: English Mild very lightly flavored with Cinnamon, Vanilla and Rum.

Name: Jack Hughes
Style: Porter
Beer name: Jobu’s Revenge
ABV: 4.4%
Description: Spicy porter with vanilla and serrano peppers.

Name: The Dude
Style: Winter Ale
Beer name: The Stuff
ABV: 4.5%
Description: Light hoppy with a hint of chocolate.

Name: Brandon Wills
Style: Witbier
Beer name: Belgian Wit
ABV: 4.4%
Description: A traditional Witbier brewed with flaked wheat and Belgian pilsner malt. Coriander and orange peel added late in the boil bring out classic Witbier spices that perfectly complement the wheaty body of the beer.
I would appreciate any feedback you may have on Untappd: HERE

Name: Rahshal Kowal 
Style: Affogato Sweet Stout
Beer name: Elf-O-Gato
ABV: 5.4%
Description: Creamy coffee flavored stout with a hint of sweetness.

Note From Tyler: Rahshal and her husband Stan run a YouTube channel on homebrewing and fermentation. HERE 
We have done an experiment or two with them in the past and they’re fantastic people. Check them out and please subscribe! 

Name: Stan
Style: German Pilsner 
Beer name: Star So Bright
ABV: 4.4% 

Description: Name: Kyle S
Style: West Coast IPA 
Beer name: None
ABV: 5.3%
Description: West Coast Ipa made with Chinook and Willamette hops. 

Note from Tyler: I want to take a moment to recognize Kyle for making the jump from home brewer to pro brewer. Thanks for being a part of this exchange and you can check HERE for more info!