Finally, the temperature and the calendar are in sync. After too many weirdly warm days, it's time to layer on the coats and scarves when you go out. And when you stay in, you'll be in the right frame of mind for winter seasonal beers, the richest, strongest and most complex in the brewer's repertoire.

Small brewing companies, whether micros or brewpubs, can really shine when it comes to seasonals, since they have the flexibility to experiment. No national ad campaign rides on these beers. No marketing department is urging caution. Brewers can create these often experimental bonbons for the select few: you. Step in from the cold and sample the winter brews that Carolina brewers make available here in the Triangle.

Once upon a time, received wisdom held that Southerners wouldn't embrace dark beer. If that was ever true, it certainly isn't now. Dark styles, primarily porters, dominate the winter selections. One of the finest is produced by Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery in Farmville. Paul Philippon's Baltic Porter is porter at its biggest: nearly opaque, chocolaty and smooth, but without the roasty bite of its big sibling, stout.

This year, Carolina Brewery's head brewer Jon Connolly has had to travel between two branches of the business, on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill and the new brewpub on Lowes Drive in Pittsboro. Despite a hectic schedule, Connolly has used the expanded brewing capacity to best effect: For the first time in eight years, he's brewing Franklin Street Lager (lager takes longer to condition, using precious tank space). And starting in the new year, Carolina Brewery beers will be available in the Raleigh area.

At the two brewpubs, enthusiasts have been ordering pints of Santa's Secret, an ale brewed with six malts and spiced with coriander, cinnamon and allspice. (Oops, was that the secret?) Also to mark the season is an Oatmeal Porter, a dark ale made silky with the addition of oatmeal.

Up the street in Chapel Hill, Top of the Hill will reopen Thursday with a freshened look and fresh beer in the tank. "We'll have an American honey brown ale, which has 120 pounds of honey in a 17-barrel batch. That should be on hand by the new year," said assistant brewer George Dusek. Also look for an Imperial stout, which comes in at a thought-provoking 7.6 percent alcohol.

Triangle Brewing Co. in Durham, the state's newest micro, continues to roll out new beers. Although not specifically a holiday seasonal, their barrel-aged abbey dubbel certainly fits the bill: round, complex and warming. It has been on draft locally for about a month, so grab it while you can. Also, if you have visitors in town, why not show them a working brewery? Triangle hosts brewery tours every other Saturday, and often offers special beer-to-go sales on the alternate Saturdays. Check trianglebrewery.com for details.

From Winston-Salem's Foothills Brewing Co., look for People's Porter. The cool graphics owe more to Che than to Christmas, but the flavor is classic, not revolutionary. According to assistant brewer Wayne Wambles, "This is an English-style robust porter with chocolate and sweet toffee aroma, firm unsweetened chocolate flavor with moderate notes of caramel and toffee, an herbal hop bitterness up front, and a slight note of espresso in the finish." If that sounds extravagant, just wait a few weeks, when Foothills' cocoa-infused Imperial stout, provocatively titled Sexual Chocolate, will be released in time to get you -- and a partner, we hope -- through the February doldrums.

The folks at Carolina Brewing Co. know a good thing when they drink it, so their Winter Porter has made a reappearance again this year. Rich and full-bodied, with Simcoe hops for spicy character, it's on draft around the area and directly from the brewery in Holly Springs. Retail hours are noon to 6 p.m. Fridays, noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 5 on New Year's Eve, so you can toast 2008 with good stuff. CBC's brewery tours will operate every Saturday through the holidays, for adult visitors only.

Big Boss, Raleigh's sole micro, is collaborating this season with Raleigh coffee expert Larry's Beans to make a Coffee Stout. Brewmaster Brad Wynn selected a coffee with a similar profile to Big Boss' stout -- "a coffee that enhances the stout rather than overwhelms." Cold-brewed, concentrated coffee is added to the beer for a seasonal that wakes you up and calms you down at the same time. And look at the neat retro-styled Web site, bigbossbrewing.com, for information about tours and the brewery's on-site taproom, Horniblow's Tavern.

And beer lovers who look forward to Highland Brewing Co.'s Cold Mountain Winter Ale, which has become an annual staple for many, will enjoy a spicy treat from the Asheville brewery this year.

Wherever you warm yourself -- in a tavern or pub, or sitting at home with friends -- these winter beers are worthy of the holidays. Drink them wisely with friends, and toast one another with best wishes for the next year.

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