Beer with a nod to tawny port??

Howdy,

I love tawny port. I love the oak undertone and nutty flavors that come from the aging in oak barrels. Does anyone have a suggestion for a beer recipe that would echo these flavors? I'm not looking to brew port. More of a beer with a stylistic "hat-tip" to tawny port. Something that would be a great beer to accompany good cheese or dessert.

I look forward to the ideas!

Fascinating question. Sounds like you want something that tends somewhat to the maltier side. Obviously, you would want to consider using oak chips. I'd suggest a nut brown, but brewed to a higher OG than usual. You might need to bump up the hopping rate for balance. A bit of chocolate malt would probably help. I'd probably use both some Munich and Vienna malts, cutting back slightly on the base malt. Some lighter crystal malts (say, 40 L).

"Radical Brewing" by Randy Mosher has a recipe that _may_ be what you're looking for. (traveling, so going from memory here) It's a relatively high gravity beer that's fermented out, then sherry yeast and brandy are added. The sherry "flor" grows and does it's magic in about ... two years...

Make sure to include some Special B (don't skimp) for a raisiny taste, and some Victory too for a nutty note. I'd be carefull with oak chips etc. The oaked beers I've had a more scotch/bourbon taste. I small bit would be OK, you don't want to really notice it. I'd be tempted to add a small amount of vanilla to mimic oak aged wines.

I'm not sure what yeast I'd use, maybe a Trappist yeast. I'd check out Belgian Dark Strong recipes and use that as a basis. These most likely would already call for Special B, but maybe not the Victory, and not the oak or vanilla - that would be out of style, which you want though.

Instead of using actual oak chips that may cause a whiskey flavor maybe try oak flavoring. It should be available at any wine making shop. I would think this would add the oak flavor from a wine product without having the whiskey effect.

I'm thinking Oaked Barley Wine. Keep the balance on the malt side and the sweetness will meld nicely with the oak. It will also have a fortified wine vibe to it.

Another option is to tune into the thread here about the clone of Sam Adams Utopia. 20%+ ABV is the goal there.

I'm not sure what yeast I'd use, maybe a Trappist yeast.

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I disagree -- while the Trappist yeast would handle the amount of alcohol you would want in this beer, it would also have, I think, too distinctive of a flavor. I think you wanta more neutral ale yeast.

I agree with the Special B. You'd probably want to use more than you normally would.

barely said:

"Radical Brewing" by Randy Mosher has a recipe that _may_ be what you're looking for.

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Indeed he does! On page 136... here is the basic recipe:

2.5 gallon recipe
1 pound of white sugar mixed with 1/4 cup water and cooked until the color of light molasses
6 lb pils malt
6 lb munich malt
Mash in grains with 1.25 quart/pound of grain to temp of 122 degrees. Then add boiling water to bring temp to 130-132. Rest 1/2 hour, then runoff. Take 1st runnings and boil 15 minutes, then return to the mash to bring mash temp up to 162 for 1/2 hour. Then drain. No sparge. Should have about 3 gallons of first runnings.

Add cooked sugar to wort and boil with 1.5 ounces of Northern Brewer Hops and boil for 1 hour. Cool and pitch sherry yeast (recommends Vierka liquid sherry yeast, but dry sherry yeast an option)
Primary @ 68-72 "until it settles down"
Rack to secondary and add 2.0 oz of lactic acid, and 16 oz of 190 proof spirits or 34 oz 90 proof vodka.
Can add small handful of french or hungarian oak cubes.
Secondary 6-12 months in warm room (to promote some oxidation)
Bottle without carbonation

He mentions if you want to get the lactic acid naturally, you an add whatever belgian wild yeast you want but will need 1-2 years of secondary instead of 6-12 months.

Interesting!! I think I'll have to try this...

That's what I did.

Found about half a case of a 9% dopple-porter from 1995

Tastes very much like a port or sherry.

AHS also has a great chocolate razz berry port kit that is wonderful!

pjj2ba said:

Make sure to include some Special B (don't skimp) for a raisiny taste, and some Victory too for a nutty note.

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So @pjj2ba, based on the recipe from Radical Brewing, how much Special B would you use and what would you replace with it?

Here is my Belgian Dark strong recipe

5 gal batch ~ 80% efficiency

OG 1.077 40.5 IBU
10.5 lb Pilsner malt
1 lb candi sugar - homemade
0.5 lbs Aromatic malt
0.5 lbs Special B
2 oz debittered black malt

38 gms of Cluster at 60'
14 gms of Saaz at 20'

I'd up it to 1.0 lb of Special B, dropping the base malt (pils) by 0.5 pounds (or not, depending on how big you want it). I like the idea of half Pils/half Munich. I'd change up the hops for something fruitier, maybe Goldings, or I've been digging Liberty lately.

I don't know about sherry yeast. I'd be afraid it would finish too dry. I've got a really big Alt (13% ABV) that is now conditioning. I just sampled it this weekend for the 1st time in 4 month. It is definitely an Alt, not a barleywine. It is of the "sticke" Alt variety. It has some nice light toffee notes. The white labs Dusseldorf Alt yeast might be an interesting choice. It ferments fairly clean, but gives the beers a unique flavor that might go well with the port idea. This beer did stop at 1.030 (10% ABV), but I got it to go lower by adding the white labs super high gravity strain. As long as you are not shooting to go over 10% ABV, this yeast might do the job by itself.

Sorry, I thought this thread was about Tawny Stone...

Carry on.

Well... I ordered the grain and yeast today. I went with White Labs WLP700 Flor Sherry yeast. I substituted 1 pound of special B for some of the munich. I'll let y'all know how it turns out in a couple of months!

please keep us posted, sounds great. How about posting the final brew recipe?

B

Have you ever had Trois Pistoles by Unibroue? That is the closest to port I've ever had in a beer. Absolutely delicious, definitely not a session beer. There are some clone recipes out there if you want to look.