Winter Beer Gardens Are Better, and Here’s Why

Photo Credit: Longwood Gardens

Summer beer gardens are so last season. If the thought of sipping another shandy has you hiding under your wooly covers, consider heading to Longwood Gardens for their Beer Garden, which, coupled with a no holds barred holiday display, makes the Kennett Square staple a great way to celebrate the wintery weather with family and friends. Here are five festive reasons you should add Longwood Gardens’ Beer Garden to your holiday to-do list.

You can eat belly-warming, locally-sourced fare
This year’s menu is rich with belly-warming treats like wood-fired pizza with Kennett Square mushrooms, heaping veggie burgers piled high with spicy sriracha mayo, and a falafel wrap with warm tzatziki. Worry not about your beach body when indulging in these treats, because you’re about as far away from swimsuit season as you can get this whole year.

And see a French-inspired Parterre Garden made entirely of seasonal fruit
This year, A Longwood Christmas features a French-inspired Parterre Garden, colorful fountain displays and merrily manicured gardens, all on display through January 7. Sip a stout while watching cranberries and apples swirl in artistic synchronicity, floating in botanical formation in the Garden’s Exhibition Hall. For more look-but-don’t-touch treats, visit the Music Room, which will host an ornate, mirrored dinner table adorned with all the fixins of a true Versailles Christmas Fete. There’s nothing like looking at a professionally elegant table setting to inspire you to try your hand at the real thing at your dinner table.

You and your friends can stay warm and cozy around the Gardens’ fire pits
Think it’s too cold for a cold one outside? Think again. Local artisans from the Gardens and the surrounding area have built custom-made firepits and placed them all around the grounds. They’re roaring every night, so you can sip your brew warmly weeknights and weekends.

And experience the iconic Longwood holiday light display
If you think your neighbor’s holiday light display is impressive, think again. With over a half-million vibrant, colorful outdoor lights strung on 124 trees (the highest coming in at 90 feet tall), this scene makes National Lampoon’s eccentric yard look amateur. Major must-sees include the illuminated Italian Water Garden and the Hourglass Lake Pavilion’s pair of eight-foot Concolor Firs decked out with natural ornaments sourced from the Meadow Garden.

You can sip a special seasonal stout made by Victory Brewing Company and Longwood
Back to the beer. This year’s collaboration with Victory Brewing Company is a Cherry Oatmeal Stout, a low, 5.1 ABV fruit-infused dark beer that’s clean and colorful in flavor due to its low alcohol percentage. Sip a few, or opt for last summer’s special partnership brew, the Oro Blanco, made from the Garden’s own homegrown grapefruits. Whether you’re a beer lover or a wine or cocktail connoisseur, there’s something to whet your palette at Longwoods’ Beer Garden.

For more information about A Longwood Christmas and Beer Garden, click here.