Maritime pacific Brewery Jolly Roger Christmas Ale Clone

Anyone here from the northwest or has been probably knows was this beer is. I spent many of years in Seattle and grew to love a lot of beers up there.

At any rate, I am seeing myself trying to clone a lot of the beers I loved from up north.

I cannot find any clone recipes for this very strong christmas ale, yet very drinkable.

Here is some info on the brew.

Maritime Pacific Jolly Roger Christmas Ale from Maritime Pacific Brewing Co., a English Strong Ale style beer: An unofficial page for Maritime Pacific Jolly Roger Christmas Ale from Maritime Pacific Brewing Co. in Seattle, Washington , United States

Maritime Pacific Jolly Roger Christmas Ale - Maritime Pacific Brewing Company - BeerAdvocate

I have seen ABV number from 9 to 10.5 on this beer, yet it does not taste like it, but certainly sneeks up on you.

Anyway, I am new to the AG scene and would certainly try this recipe soon. I am hoping someone that would know how to replicate this is thinking the same thing.

humann_brewing said:

...
sadly am now in California which has a lackluster microbrew scene.
...

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what?
What?
WHAT?!
WHAT!?!


I'll just mention Russian River and then say [insert a dozen others here].

The brews I can get out here is starting to be one of the only things I like about CA!

Berserker_Brew said:

what?
What?
WHAT?!
WHAT!?!


I'll just mention Russian River and then say [insert a dozen others here].

The brews I can get out here is starting to be one of the only things I like about CA!

Click to expand...

Sorry, didn't want to start a war or anything, I should have put a caveat on the post in that:

near my area there is a definite lackluster microbrew scene. There are definitely some good breweries in Cali, such as Stone, Lost Coast, Anchor Steam, some others. I think the only one here in Fresno is Sequoia Brewing which puts out good beer, don't get me wrong, but that is about all I have.

now on the other side of the coin, let's see, the northwest, where do I start:

Rogue
Pyramid
Red Hook
Pacific maritime
deschutes
Elysian
Hale's Ales Brewery
The Ram
Pike Place
Bert Grants (RIP)
Full Sail
Widmere
Snoqualmie Falls

humann_brewing said:

I think the only one here in Fresno is Sequoia Brewing which puts out good beer, don't get me wrong, but that is about all I have.

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here's a thought.
Head over to Sequoia, buy the brewer a beer and talk about adding a winter warmer. Perhaps the brewer would be interested in making something like that, but is afraid there would be no market in Bulldog Country. You never know, you might make a friend that can help clone the JR or send some hops your way now and then.

stranger things have happened.

I used to live around the corner from them, that was a damn good beer. I need to see if I can score a case or so.

thataintchicken said:

here's a thought.
Head over to Sequoia, buy the brewer a beer and talk about adding a winter warmer. Perhaps the brewer would be interested in making something like that, but is afraid there would be no market in Bulldog Country. You never know, you might make a friend that can help clone the JR or send some hops your way now and then.

stranger things have happened.

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That is a good idea and I think it would always be a good idea to have a brewer friend, can't go wrong there.

Now I just need to get my hands on the original to remember what it tastes like.

So another year has passed and I am still trying to formulate a good recipe based on the Jolly Roger Christmas ale. I just called the taphouse and they would not give any information toward anything in the beer.

So once again I am hoping one of the local brethren here has some insight into this wonderful beer.

Also, as a side note, I have certainly changed my mind about the Californian craft brew scene since last year.

here's a thought.
Head over to Sequoia, buy the brewer a beer and talk about adding a winter warmer. Perhaps the brewer would be interested in making something like that, but is afraid there would be no market in Bulldog Country. You never know, you might make a friend that can help clone the JR or send some hops your way now and then.

stranger things have happened.

Hope this helps.

I actually had a buddy in seattle mail me a six pack of it this year!

HokieBrewer said:

here's a thought.
Head over to Sequoia, buy the brewer a beer and talk about adding a winter warmer. Perhaps the brewer would be interested in making something like that, but is afraid there would be no market in Bulldog Country. You never know, you might make a friend that can help clone the JR or send some hops your way now and then.

stranger things have happened.

Hope this helps.

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Is this spam? This is a direct quite of thataintchicken from last year.

Jaysus said:

I actually had a buddy in seattle mail me a six pack of it this year!

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Yep, I still have 7 left from an exchange with another HBT member from last year but I want to be able to make this stuff myself.

Have you tried it yet?

humann_brewing said:

Have you tried it yet?

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oh yeah, I actually had it fresh from the source a few years back, and had been jonesing for it ever since!

Jaysus said:

oh yeah, I actually had it fresh from the source a few years back, and had been jonesing for it ever since!

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Yeah me too, I moved From Seattle a little over 4 years ago and that is definitely one beer I have missed.

Sorry, I'm no help. Seemed funny to me. Moving along...

bump

would like to brew this for Christmas time but don't even know where to start.

I actually called Maritime Pacific to see if they would throw me a bone in helping formulate a recipe but they wouldn't say a peep.

I find it weird that even if they told me the hops and some of the grains but not in any certain order or quantity me trying to clone a beer and tell all of my friends about it would only promote their product and encourage more to go out and try it. Why are people so anal?

humann_brewing said:

Sorry, didn't want to start a war or anything, I should have put a caveat on the post in that:

near my area there is a definite lackluster microbrew scene. There are definitely some good breweries in Cali, such as Stone, Lost Coast, Anchor Steam, some others. I think the only one here in Fresno is Sequoia Brewing which puts out good beer, don't get me wrong, but that is about all I have.

now on the other side of the coin, let's see, the northwest, where do I start:

Rogue
Pyramid
Red Hook
Pacific maritime
deschutes
Elysian
Hale's Ales Brewery
The Ram
Pike Place
Bert Grants (RIP)
Full Sail
Widmere
Snoqualmie Falls

Click to expand...

I'm with you. Sure, Cali has some world-class breweries and beers, but the selection of commercial beers that are available sucks. There is really only one place to buy beer (BevMo) and they don't carry a lot of micros from out of the area. Sure, they have some of the bigger ones, but I was able to get more selection in Minneapolis than I can here, even though a number of breweries were further away.

Berserker_Brew said:

what?
What?
WHAT?!
WHAT!?!


I'll just mention Russian River and then say [insert a dozen others here].

The brews I can get out here is starting to be one of the only things I like about CA!

Click to expand...

Sorry, I don't know anyplace in CA that has the brewbup scene Seattle does.
There are however good breweries all over the west coast

So I got a response from the brewery with some good information.

Here is what I know, it is a English Strong Ale, mostly Pale and Crystal malt, 9% ABV, fresh blend of Chinook and cascade hops and no spices.

Here a start, what other specialty grains do you think would go into a English Strong ale? To anyone that has had this, what do you think of the hopping, I know there is a very distinct hop taste and it is not cascade so I am sure they put chinook in at the end too. 1.084 to 1.015 gets 9%, it has a little residual sweetness but not much.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.20 gal
Estimated OG: 1.084 SG
Estimated Color: 19.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 56.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 81.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
13.75 lb Great Western 2 Row (2.0 SRM) Grain 89.23 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 6.61 %
0.50 lb Caramunich Malt 56 SRM Grain 3.3%
0.13 Chocolate 450 SRM Grain .86 %
1.25 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (90 min) Hops 45.3 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 11.0 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (0 min) Hops -

I am thinking of trying this recipe this weekend. I have everything except some WLP007.

I am going to take out the chocolate but not sure if I should sub something or not. I will be tasting one tonight for one last chance to see if I need anything else.

There is a good aroma on this beer and I think it is dry hopped with Chinook because it is definitely not cascade as long as those are the only 2 hops used that is.

So I did a little taste tasting on the original and my notes are this.

Light carbonation

copper in color

Lots of aroma going on

Like a caramel smell to it

some residual sweetness

no lacing of the drinking glass

So it really seems like there is either a lot of crystal or the higher lovibond crystals give more of a caramel taste which I am thinking is the case. Is that a high lovibond crystal like 120, maybe some munich or caramunich in it to add more body?

Well here is what I will be trying as a Jolly Roger inspired recipe

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.20 gal
Estimated OG: 1.085 SG
Estimated Color: 17.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 78.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 81.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
13.75 lb Great Western 2 Row (2.0 SRM) Grain 87.30 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 6.35 %
1.00 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 6.35 %
1.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (90 min) Hops 54.1 IBU
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (Dry Hop 14 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (30 min) Hops 12.9 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 11.0 IBU
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
1 Pkgs Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) [StarYeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 15.75 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 19.69 qt of water at 163.7 F 152.0 F


I will need to get 81% attenuation out of this yeast which should be easy.

Brewing this tomorrow. Wish me luck, not sure how this will turn out.

Good luck, I hope you've nailed the recipe. My favorite winter beer is Jolly Roger, IMO nothing can touch it. I moved from Seattle a few years back and DAMN how I do miss this beer...

Let us know how it turns out... Ive never had nor heard of this brew, but if it compelled you to work this long on a clone it's gotta be worth trying!

UnaBonger said:

Let us know how it turns out... Ive never had nor heard of this brew, but if it compelled you to work this long on a clone it's gotta be worth trying!

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I hope it goes well, this is certainly a great beer but they don't distribute very far at all so I can't get it now.

They brewery has moved though and said that their new production capacity may allow them to go to more markets like California, so I am keeping my finger crossed. The crappy part is that Fresno is like an empty void for good selection on beer. There is not a single good store that has a descent selection other than bevmo that only carries the most popular selection from a few select breweries. It is impossible to get Russian River or specialty stuff from even Sierra Nevada here which the brewery is less than 5 hours away. Alright vent over :cross:

Changing one more time... I think.

After reading the descriptions on the crystal at Great Westerns site, I am going with C75 instead of 120 which will have more caramel taste instead of toffee. This will also lower the SRM to more of the copper color which was needed. I also lowered the percentages by about 1.5% each on the caramunich and crystal so it goes 90, 5, 5 2-row, caramunich and crystal.

Well I got this brew done, came in 1 point low on the gravity and did a slighty different hop scedule, my Chinooks were only 11.5% so I did 1.75oz at 90 and .75 at 30 which should add about 10 ibus too bring it up to about 87

I decided to check the brix on this beer. I didn't take a brix reading on brewday so I used the morebeer excel sheet to calculate the brix reading but if it is accurate and I am not sure about that because it would convert to 1.011. I was shooting for 1.015 but I think my mash temp dropped a few degrees during the mash and may have created more fermentable wort. I have also never used WLP007 but man that stuff is a attenuater and fast too. 1.084 to 1.011

Oh yeah and the squirt tasted pretty good too but man this is going to need some aging at 9.6%, this may be a 2010 Christmas beer after all.

I am going to hold out as long as possible in the primary 6 weeks hopefully and then dry hop just before bottling/kegging.

If the gravity is in fact at 1.011, I am thinking of trying to back sweeten this a little with Malto Dextrin. How much do you think I should add to a 5 gallon batch to make it seem like it is a 1.015 beer. Doesn't seem like it would take much for that amount.

I kegged/bottled this last night, I think I kegged about 3.5 - 4 gallons and bottled the rest. Man was the hydro sample tasty, fresh out of the dry hop, it is tasting fantastic. I will do some comparing soon when it is carbed up. The gravity wasn't as low as I thought from the refractometer, it was 1.017 so that is right in the range I wanted.

I'm sorry I didn't see this thread earlier! Man I miss Jolly Roger, I haven't had any in like 6 years (since I moved to NYC). George is a great guy and crafts some awsome beers. When I lived in Seattle I spent many a saturday eating sliders and deep fried pickles in his tap room, all accompanied with some great NW brew.

He is the uncle of a good friend of mine, and when I graduated from lawschool they gave me a keg of beer for my party. Just thinking about it makes me miss the NW.

I've long wanted to brew this clone too and your recipe looks great. If you brew it a second time though, you might want to add some malted wheat which is that brewery's sort of signature ingredient. From the Maritime Website:

The Maritime Pacific "signature" is largely derived from the use of malted wheat in all the recipes. The wheat adds complexity, body, and a dry, nut-like quality to the traditional combination of yeast, malted barley, hops, and water.

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I still think your beer is going to taste great, just consider it a beer inspired by Jolly Roger.

nate

NYCHomebrewer said:

I'm sorry I didn't see this thread earlier! Man I miss Jolly Roger, I haven't had any in like 6 years (since I moved to NYC). George is a great guy and crafts some awsome beers. When I lived in Seattle I spent many a saturday eating sliders and deep fried pickles in his tap room, all accompanied with some great NW brew.

He is the uncle of a good friend of mine, and when I graduated from lawschool they gave me a keg of beer for my party. Just thinking about it makes me miss the NW.

I've long wanted to brew this clone too and your recipe looks great. If you brew it a second time though, you might want to add some malted wheat which is that brewery's sort of signature ingredient. From the Maritime Website:



I still think your beer is going to taste great, just consider it a beer inspired by Jolly Roger.

nate

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Thanks for the info, I will definitely consider that, I plan on having this every winter once I nail the recipe. It is funny they didn't mention the wheat in the emails I sent back and forth with them So would white wheat malt be a good option and what percentage do you think?

I don't really know. I am just starting to formulate my own recipes using Beersmith as my crutch, but I happened to remember that wheat trivia from back in the day.

I have been trying to clone a Deschutes Brewery Black Butte Porter, and most of the recipes I've seen (based on Jamil's recipe I think) include about 8-11% wheat malt. If I were going to brew this recipe, I think thats about where I would start. You have about 16 lbs of grain in your recipe, so I think I'd target about 1-1.5 lbs of wheat malt. I'd probably get there by reducing the 2row by 1-1.5 and replacing it with wheat.

Is this the correct answer? I don't know, but that recipe looks similar to the Porter I'm making, just stronger and without the dark malts. One nice thing, the wheat will give you a nice head.

Maybe I'll give it a try after my black butte!

nate

P.S. I don't know why the brewery wasn't more forthcoming, maybe they were being perfectly honest and the Jolly Roger is one of the few beers they brew without wheat malt?

NYCHomebrewer said:

I don't really know. I am just starting to formulate my own recipes using Beersmith as my crutch, but I happened to remember that wheat trivia from back in the day.

I have been trying to clone a Deschutes Brewery Black Butte Porter, and most of the recipes I've seen (based on Jamil's recipe I think) include about 8-11% wheat malt. If I were going to brew this recipe, I think thats about where I would start. You have about 16 lbs of grain in your recipe, so I think I'd target about 1-1.5 lbs of wheat malt. I'd probably get there by reducing the 2row by 1-1.5 and replacing it with wheat.

Is this the correct answer? I don't know, but that recipe looks similar to the Porter I'm making, just stronger and without the dark malts. One nice thing, the wheat will give you a nice head.

Maybe I'll give it a try after my black butte!

nate

P.S. I don't know why the brewery wasn't more forthcoming, maybe they were being perfectly honest and the Jolly Roger is one of the few beers they brew without wheat malt?

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Thanks, I have heard of breweries that always use about 5% wheat for the head retention etc... When I emailed they said that the primary malts were 2-row and crystal. In fact this is what I had to go on "Jolly Roger is based on a traditional English Strong Ale style. We use a ton of malt (mostly crystal and pale) to make the end result 9% alc./vol. The hops are a blend of fresh Northwest Chinook and Cascades. " along with my memory and tasting the real thing.

Yeah, I think I'd go a little higher since they add it for their signature flavor rather than just head retention. I'll see what Beersmith says when I get home.

I really am looking forward to hearing your result, humann. Jolly Roger is my favorite beer, too - I've lost many an evening to that holiday brew! Keep us posted (though, as you say, it might have to be a Holiday 2010 opening - at 9%+, I doubt it will be ready to drink by Christmas if you just kegged last night).

khiddy said:

I really am looking forward to hearing your result, humann. Jolly Roger is my favorite beer, too - I've lost many an evening to that holiday brew! Keep us posted (though, as you say, it might have to be a Holiday 2010 opening - at 9%+, I doubt it will be ready to drink by Christmas if you just kegged last night).

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I will let you know, I am thinking I will save quite a few of the bottles for next year buy I plan on having the keg over the next few months. I was thinking it wasn't going to be drinkable yet either but the taste at bottling/kegging time changed my mind. Mine came in around 8.7% too so it is a little shy in that aspect.

well, I have been sipping off the tap on this one and am very pleased. I am waiting a little bit to pull out one of the few bottles of the real thing I have left to compare but even if it is not close in taste it is still a d@mn good beer. I will definitely be making this for next winter again.

Just chiming in to say thanks for taking the leap on this one, gotta get a bigger kettle... My mom had this in the house constantly when I was in High School and I miss going to the Jolly Roger Tap House more then anything, well Issaquah Brew House maybe, just due to proximity... Nothing really compares to the NW brew house experience. SF Public Ale House kinda cuts it, but you can't beat sitting at Diamond Knot while waiting for a ferry to Whidbey!