Christmas Beer

[mjb34500]

Didn't see a thread yet on Christmas beers, but wondering if anyone had an opinion on a good base beer for a nice, spicey warmer type - think Great Lakes Brewing's Christmas Ale.

I personally like a good touch of nutmeg, cinnamon and clove in my tastes. I've read a few places to add some chocalting malts/grain to it as well.

I typically do partial malts, so if anyone has some advice I'd greatly appreciate. 'Tis the season to get ready for the season!

 

[Christ872]

mjb~

I had a similar thought. But when I did mine, I went Cinnamon, nutmeg and Almond. Definitely not a fan of clove at all.

I brewed mine up on 09/22/2012 and should be bottling it somewhere along the week of October 11-ish.

A majority of the stuff I saw reflected the use of an English yeast, so I used WLP013 - London Ale. I wanted a little less attenuation...wanted to keep it a big more rich.

Made this one light - both in color and ABV. Didn't want a big warmer as I have a couple huge IPAs and Barleywines for that. I was trying to concentrate on the aroma and a little nostalgic "where it takes you".

 

[Hernando]

Vanilla bean (secondary) and 1 lb. Honey would be some good additions and would add some more richness and great aroma. I don't have my grain bill for the christmas beer I do but I'll hunt it down tonight and throw it on here if you are interested.

 

[biochemedic]

Go very cautiously with cloves...very easy to overdo!

 

[mjb34500]

Go very cautiously with cloves...very easy to overdo!

Thanks for the heads up. I actually haven't seen it in many recipes, so I'll probably just eliminate it.

I like the honey and almond ideas.....I'm curious about the English yeast tho, Christ872. Did you do that b/c you wanted a lighter bodied brew? I like my Christmas beers nice and deep, so I was going to go with Wyeast 1028 - supposedly that's what GLBC uses.

 

[Christ872]

Thanks for the heads up. I actually haven't seen it in many recipes, so I'll probably just eliminate it.

I like the honey and almond ideas.....I'm curious about the English yeast tho, Christ872. Did you do that b/c you wanted a lighter bodied brew? I like my Christmas beers nice and deep, so I was going to go with Wyeast 1028 - supposedly that's what GLBC uses.

Mjb~

Yeah. Like I said, I have a ton of Barleywines and IPAs. So this one is relatively light all the way around - ABV (6.3% estimate) and SRM (8 estimate). I wanted to concentrate on the spices as that is not in my normal "wheelhouse" in brewing.

I looked on Hopville at about 7-to-10 different recipes for the Christmas/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer category and they were dominated by English or Scottish yeast selections. British Ale I and British Ale II. So, I settled in on either the WLP013 London Ale or the WLP 023 Burton Ale. The London Ale specs reflect some Oaky esters...which might fit nicely drinking it by a fire. And I don't believe Oaky esters would go against the cinnamon or nutmeg. On ther other hand, the WLP023 Burton Ale is said to have some "delicious" fruit flavor like apple, clover honey and pear. Alas, had they omitted the pear I might have taken a chance there. Pears make me puke. Pears are tantamount to celery on the nasty-o-meter to me. For a similar reason, I wanted to steer clear of Star Anise. Sounded nice until I heard about the "licorice" flavor. That ended that thought.

Meh...not much reasoning, but it made sense to me and I hope it fairs well.