Winter Warmer - What base?

Howdy:

I am gearing up to make a winter warmer, and am uncertain what base beer I should use. The 'warmer' portions will include cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, honey malt and chamomile (or a generic winter tea bag or 4).

My initial thoughts are that with that much in the back end, it will need to be a fairly hefty base to keep it in balance. With that in mind, I went to the store and grabbed an oatmeal stout, a milk stout, a porter, a brown and a dark amber (yeah, just looking for an excuse, I know :cross to sample. We have already knocked the porter out (too cough syrupy according to the swmbo), and will sample the others over the next few days.

That all being said, what would people suggest to use as the base beer for this recipe?

Thanks
T

scottish / strong scotch ale, depending on the strength you're looking for. I also used the Wyeast 1728 strong scotch ale yeast. Nice.

An Old Ale or a Northern English Brown might work well....

--LexusChris

A dark strong Belgian or Strong Scotch with a Belgian yeast. The Scotch may be syrupy so maybe dry out the recipe a little.

There are plenty of Belgian-style winter warmers. I think they tend to be in the dubbel/quad variety but I have seen a few tripel-like beers produced as winter warmers. I'm sure I've seen a Belgian brown as well. Belgian winter warmers tend to be less spice-driven than American versions though.

I've also seen winter warmers made out of Scotch ale, porter, brown ale and pale ale. However, I think brown ale tends to be the most common simply because it is a neutral but sweet style that won't clash with the spices.

After sampling multiple types, it looks like we have landed on an Oatmeal Stout as a base beer. The SWMBO has specified that the spices included (in order of precedence in flavor) will be Cinnamon, vanilla, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. She also said that whole spices are needed as much as possible.

So, advice on the below recipe? The spices are in the extras section, but will call them out here:

2.00 Ea Cinnamon Stick 5 min (boil)
3.00 Ea Vanilla Bean 7 day (secondary)
1.00 inch Ginger 0 min (boil)
2.00 Tbl Nutmeg ground 0 min (boil)
6.00 Ea Cloves 0 min (boil)



(stealing shamelessly from Brewing Clamper - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/no-clever-name-oatmeal-stout-26289/)

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
45.5 5.00 lbs. Alexander LME - Pale America 1.037 2
13.6 1.50 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
9.1 1.00 lbs. Alexander LME - Wheat America 1.037 4
9.1 1.00 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt 1.033 2
9.1 1.00 lbs. Flaked Oats America 1.033 2
5.5 0.60 lbs. Crystal 60L America 1.034 60
4.5 0.50 lbs. Chocolate Malt America 1.029 350
3.6 0.40 lbs. Roasted Barley Great Britain 1.029 575

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 4.75 21.8 60 min.
0.50 oz. Fuggle Pellet 4.75 10.9 60 min.
0.25 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 4.75 1.5 15 min.


Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 Tsp Yeast Nutrient Other 15 Min.(boil)
1.00 Tsp Irish Moss Fining 15 Min.(boil)
2.00 Ea Cinnamon Stick 5 min (boil)
3.00 Ea Vanilla Bean 7 day (secondary)
1.00 inch Ginger 0 min (boil)
2.00 Tbl Nutmeg ground 0 min (boil)
6.00 Ea Cloves 0 min (boil)

Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP001 California Ale


Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Type: Single Step

Grain Lbs: 5.00
Water Qts: 5.00 - Before Additional Infusions
Water Gal: 1.25 - Before Additional Infusions

Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 1.00 - Before Additional Infusions

Saccharification Rest Temp : 152 Time: 60
Sparge Temp : 170 Time: 0