This is a famous recipe by Denny Conn that can be found all over the internet. I thought I'd share it here for your brewing pleasure.

This is a big, full-bodied, full-flavored beer. It's like drinking a meal. When I brew it, I usually only add the Maker's Mark to 1/2 of the batch. Some people love the bourbon flavor, others don't care for it.

The vanilla flavor is best from whole vanilla beans, but if you can't find them, then make sure you use pure vanilla extract, not the imitation stuff.

A note on the volumes. This is a big grain bill and requires you to sparge more than normal. You will collect much more wort and will also have to boil for longer (90-120 mins). If you don't, then your efficiency and OG will be low.


Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.078
Final Gravity: 1.018
IBU: 32
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 30.8 SRM

Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess) (1.8 SRM) Grain 64.7 %
2.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 14.7 %
1.50 lb Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) Grain 8.8 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 5.9 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 2.9 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.9 %
0.75 oz Magnum [14.00%] (60 min) Hops 29.1 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (10 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
2.00 items Vanilla Bean (Secondary 14.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

EDIT: another, more recent version uses 1.25 lbs chocolate malt. That seems like a lot to me, but I've never brewed it that way. For me, it's plenty dark/bold enough using .5 lbs. Go with what sounds best to you.

Mash Profile
Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Mash Grain Weight: 17.00 lb
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Sparge Water: 3.6 gal

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 21.25 qt of water at 161.4 F 150.0 F 75 min

Notes:
After primary, slit open 2 vanilla beans. Scrape the insides, chop the pods into quarters, add to secondary fermenter, rack beer onto vanilla. Taste periodically for the correct balance.

Rack to bottling bucket and add 1.5-2.5 oz/gal of Maker's Mark (to your taste). Original recipe called for 10 ml/pint.

Bourbon Vanilla Porter.bsm