Costco Beer Advent Calendar 2021 Review Beers 17-24

I’ve made it through 24 16oz tall boys of German made beers. And theoretically you have read 9000 words talking about a warehouse store's beer advent calendar (part 1, part 2). I recently failed out of TikTok business school and started watching MBA videos on YouTube for fun (it's not fun). I've learned that business school thinks PowerPoints are still an effective way to communicate information. But first the last 8 beer reviews, then the good stuff (or not I can't control if you scroll down).

Day 17: Mare Germanicum

Best by date: 2023/05

Imperial pilsners are such a bizarre style. Typically maltier, hoppier, and boozier than their normal counterpart; they can be quite tricky. This one is inoffensive but doesn’t kill it either. Loads of sweet malt, touch of honey buns before a big herby hop character. Needs way more bitterness to balance it out. Reminds me of less boozy malt liquor which shockingly I don’t mind (reference blog name). Rating: 3/5

Costco Beer Advent Calendar 2021 Review Beers 9-16

This is the second of three installments of the Costco Advent Beer Calendar review. If you haven't already, I recommend you check out the first part.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to present this information. I’m sure you’ll read this and think to yourself “how is it possible he spent more than 30 seconds on this?” I’ve recently found out that how you format your writing has a big impact on how it’s read; who knew? Certainly not my AP language teacher that’s for damn sure. So when I started thinking about the information I had, I thought what better way to present it than a series of clues culminating in a big reveal?

My initial thought was to somehow create a scene for scene recreation of the 7th season of CSI. For those who aren't fervent CSI fans, this is the Miniature Killer season. I don’t know if it was all the tilt shift shots or Gil Grissom's blossoming romance, but that season has stuck with me. After some brief Googling, I realized this season did not resonate with anyone but me. Then I thought I could do something like Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson in a Few Good Men; truly a classic lawyer movie. But it has come to my attention that I am old. Recently, two coworkers stared at me blankly when I mentioned Speed. Not only did they not know the concept of Keanu Reeves's classic Speed, but they didn't know it existed. I couldn't handle the truth. Perhaps present it like a modern lawyer series such as She-Hulk? This also had to be vetoed. We stopped watching the Marvel movies right before Endgame and I am sure She-Hulk's filled with spoilers. Okay, rapid fire for other considerations that were ditched:

• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Too iconic
• That one Brady Bunch episode with the brief case: Too dramatic
• Seven: Only so many times you can write “what’s in the box” when writing about an advent calendar (max is 24)
• Serial: Would get sued out the ass using the jingle and I would need a good parody lawyer
• Seinfeld finale: If you know how to turn a truly awful clip show into a stellar blog post, please comment below

Costco Beer Advent Calendar 2021 Review Beers 1-8

Let’s get the burning question out of the way: why am I writing this mega long form piece on last year's Costco 2021 beer advent calendar in September 2022? The answer is obvious. Costco starts selling these in September and I wanted to put the review out just ahead of the 2022 release. Strike while the iron is hot, as I was taught in TikTok Business School.

So let’s go back to October of last year. After writing the Aldi 2021 Preview, I accepted I had no interest in the calendar; I would be ending the year without my parcel of possibilities. Just as I had made peace with the situation, my phone started to vibrate with excitement. A new group chat had formed asking beer advent calendar questions with a ripping pace. Reading through these texts, I yearned for that same excitement. Like a younger sibling wanting to play, I looked into other advent calendar options. I stumbled upon the 12 days of Lidl beer but this was a bust; the closest Lidl is in Georgia (over an hour per beer of driving seemed silly). I then learned of the Costco beer calendar leading to a large hit of dopamine before pure dread. The calendar dropped in September and it was already late October. I swallowed my fear and made the long journey to Costco - I figured worst case I end up with an all-beef quarter-pound hot dog.

But the beer advent calendar gods were smiling down upon me that day. First thing I see after flashing my Costco card was a pallet of the beautiful glossy German perforated cardboard hiding 24 Christmas beers. I immediately scooped one up. I proceeded to fill up on various samples of snacks and frozen food before paying and, of course, getting my $1.50 combo with a hot dog and Sierra Mist (I never know what soda to get, I regretted this Sierra Mist but it did not hamper my beer advent calendar high).