What is Christmas beer and how does it differ from winter beer?

Christmas beer is not a protected name: there is no Dutch or European rule that lays down what a beer must contain before it may be called that.

Some beer names do have European geographical protection, but Christmas beer is not one of them. A brewer may call a 5 percent beer a Christmas beer, and an 11 percent beer too. What is laid down is the information on the label. The name itself is therefore no guarantee, whereas the alcohol content on the label is.

Winter beer is the broader name for beer that comes onto the market in the cold season, and Christmas beer is the part of it that appears around Christmas.

Both terms are free, so the difference lies in custom and not in rules. In practice, brewers more often choose dark malts, a higher alcohol content and sometimes spices for Christmas beer, whereas winter beer can also be an amber or a blond beer that simply comes out in November. Anyone who wants certainty reads the label rather than the name.

Winterbok is the winter variant of bock beer, a seasonal beer that the trade association describes as ruby red from roasted malt and with an alcohol content from 6.5 percent.

Winter bock is not legally protected either, but the description of bock beer does offer a hold that Christmas beer and winter beer lack. Besides winter bock there are autumn bock, spring bock and May bock. Spring and May bocks are usually blond and fruity, the autumn and winter versions darker. The distinction comes from the brewers themselves, not from the legislator.

Every beer label must state the legal product name, the ingredients, the net quantity, the best-before date, the producer's details, the batch and the alcohol content.

Those statements must be clearly visible, easy to read and indelibly applied. The regulations distinguish between drinks with more and less than 1.2 percent alcohol. For anyone who wants to tell Christmas beer and winter beer apart, that label is the only firm guidance there is.

You recognise a Christmas beer by its alcohol content and colour, not by its name, because the name itself fixes nothing.

Look at three things on the label: the alcohol percentage, the malt types or beer style listed, and whether spices appear in the ingredient list. A beer labelled as dubbel or quadrupel says more about what you will get in the glass than the word Christmas on the front label.

Alcoholic drinks may only be sold to someone who has been established to be 18 years or older.

De Alcoholwet verbiedt het bedrijfsmatig verstrekken van alcoholhoudende drank aan een persoon van wie niet is vastgesteld dat die de leeftijd van 18 jaar heeft bereikt. In de winkel in Bathmen vragen we daarom om een legitimatie als daar aanleiding voor is. NIX18.