AHS Holiday Ale Kit

Just wondering if anybody has ever bought the Special Holiday Ale from AHS before?

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_42_173&products_id=354

Sounds really good, just what I'm looking for to brew this coming Christmas for the family.

Would appreciate any comments from anyone who's had this kit before!

I love the AHS kits...Im actually moving to all grain as soon as I can scratch together 80 to 100 bucks for a decent 10 gallon brew kettle (already built myself a mash tun)

Ive been browsing around for my first AG kits on AHS and have been looking for a good holiday style beer to brew in sept/oct so it will be aged well come xmas time

have you looked at this one yet? A good bit more expensive but this one sounds delicious too...if anyone has brewed the link below or the special holiday ale before please let me know how they turned out

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_42_173&products_id=11210

I have the Holiday Ale mini-mash kit sitting in my AHS cart; I'm sure that it will be a great beer since every kit that I purchased from AHS has been outstanding.

I brewed my own spiced ale recipe last year and it turned out great - similar to this but with sweet orange and no cloves. I'll be doing it again this year.

I made the AHS Holiday Ale last year. Brought it to the future in-laws for Thanksgiving and everyone loved it. Even my mother in law who usually won't drink beer was asking for more. Its a nice drinkable all around holiday brew. Went perfect with Thanksgiving food. I bought ingredients to make up about 10 gallons of this again for the holidays, I figure why mess around.

Yeah, it looks really tasty ... a nice amber ale with Christmasy spices... think it'll be good for my BMC-drinking in-laws.

The recipe looks pretty good. One of the reviewers mentioned that the spice flavor goes away after a few months. I was thinking of kegging it and swapping it in and out of my draft lineup for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Do you think if I brewed this in September or October that it will still be spicy enough for Christmas?

I'd probably not brew it too far in advance. I think I'll also add a little more spice to the mix when I get it.

I brewed that one last summer and let it condition until Christmas. Then gave it away for presents. I loved it. The spices had really blended well and it just went over good.

ibbones, would you consider the spiciness to be just right, or high/low? Also, did you find it to be an amber that would be "light" enough for BMC drinkers to enjoy?

I got a PM asking me to post my recipe - this came out really well and was easy to do.

6.6 lbs Extra Light LME
1/2 lb #10L crushed crystal
1 oz Simcoe - beginning of boil
1 oz Cascade @ 30 minutes
2 oz Amarillo @ five minutes left or end of boil
Irish moss @ 45 minutes into the boil (highly optional)

While cooling - hops bag with
1 oz sweet orange peel
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamon
1/2 tsp ginger

All of these, I bought fresh at Whole Foods - use good fresh spices for this.

Take the bag out when you pour into the fermenter. Feel free to go a little stronger or lighter on either hops or spices. This blend came out nicely balanced for my taste, but I like a hoppy beer. .

Safale 04 English Ale yeast

This was REALLY good and I'll be making another batch this year - maybe two. It was exceptional with holiday dinners.

Steve, I'm not familiar with the flavor of cardamon....what does it give to the beer, flavor-wise?

Naked_Eskimo said:

Just wondering if anybody has ever bought the Special Holiday Ale from AHS before?

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_42_173&products_id=354

Sounds really good, just what I'm looking for to brew this coming Christmas for the family.

Would appreciate any comments from anyone who's had this kit before!

Click to expand...

I made this kit last fall to have it bottle conditioned and ready to drink by Christmas. I primed it with brown sugar instead of dextrose. Most everyone in my family and the in-laws liked it, even some BMC drinkers. And my wife, who knows good beer, loved it. Unfortunately, I found the clove flavor a little overpowering but it's possible that was a result of clove esters from the fermentation instead of actual cloves in the recipe.

All in all, it was a crowd-pleaser. AHS does have another holiday ale recipe that I might try this year instead, since it doesn't have quite as many spices.

Naked_Eskimo said:

Steve, I'm not familiar with the flavor of cardamon....what does it give to the beer, flavor-wise?

Click to expand...

Hard to describe flavors - best to just go sneak a whiff at a grocery store. Short version, it worked fine. I'll ponder this, maybe sniff my supply and see if I can find the right words.

Naked_Eskimo said:

ibbones, would you consider the spiciness to be just right, or high/low? Also, did you find it to be an amber that would be "light" enough for BMC drinkers to enjoy?

Click to expand...

I thought it was really good. Had a bit of small spice aftertast but not too strong. I am thinking about doing it again because everyone liked it.