Holiday Brew Recommendations

[premington]

Hey folks! I've been intending to make a holiday brew for my family for the holidaze (sic). I meant to get it in the fermenter in August, but another batch is waiting to be bottled and life responsibilities got in the way. Now it's almost October, and I still don't have it in the fermenter.

So I plan on doing it the weekend after next.

My question is this: Do people here have suggestions on a decent holiday-brew recipe that will be ready by December? I originally wanted to do a robust beer and planned to let it age four or five months before handing it as gifts. Now it looks like it'll be only two months.

Some ideas I was kicking around would be a whisky warmer, with Scotch or bourbon and American oak chips, maybe some cinnamon and nutmeg/cloves. Just not sure what would work given that we're only a few months away from the holiday season.

Or maybe I should do something different and forgo the whisky idea. Any suggest, please let me know! I want to spec out a recipe and get things moving. Santa's on his way!

 

[Baabaad00]

This isn't mine, but it has a lot of recipes in it. Quite a bit with spices & prospective holiday brews.

View attachment Ale Recipes.pdf

 

[MHBT]

How about a winter warmer or a Christmas ale?

 

[premington]

This isn't mine, but it has a lot of recipes in it. Quite a bit with spices & prospective holiday brews.

Really nice collection of recipes. Thanks for posting that! I've been looking at a lot of online recipes. It looks like I should steer clear of stouts, since they seem to benefit the most from long-term aging. I want to make something that will be in good shape after two months.

I pulled together a Christmas porter recipe last night that has ginger, vanilla, and cinnamon. Toying with using a little spruce extract for that Christmasy smell.

Anyone here have experience using spruce extract?

 

[madscientist451]

If your giving it away as gifts, I'd stay away from something like a spruce extract until you've used it a few times and can dial it in. Since you have a deadline and don't really have time for trial and error brews, I think its best to keep things simple.
I don't really like overly spiced beers, and a Christmas gift beer doesn't have to have all the spices of the season rolled into one brew. I think a nice gift would be something like a Kentucky bourbon barrel porter clone, you can get the oaky/whisky taste dialed in pretty easy by using some oak chips/bourbon in 1/2 of the beer and if its too much oak, blend back some of the reserved un-oaked beer. You can dial in the bourbon flavor by simply adding it to taste.
Now for NEXT year, you could brew some high abv Christmas ales with all kinds of spices, dial in what flavors you are looking for and let it age, and give it out in 2018.

 

[premington]

If your giving it away as gifts, I'd stay away from something like a spruce extract until you've used it a few times and can dial it in. Since you have a deadline and don't really have time for trial and error brews, I think its best to keep things simple.
I don't really like overly spiced beers, and a Christmas gift beer doesn't have to have all the spices of the season rolled into one brew. I think a nice gift would be something like a Kentucky bourbon barrel porter clone, you can get the oaky/whisky taste dialed in pretty easy by using some oak chips/bourbon in 1/2 of the beer and if its too much oak, blend back some of the reserved un-oaked beer. You can dial in the bourbon flavor by simply adding it to taste.
Now for NEXT year, you could brew some high abv Christmas ales with all kinds of spices, dial in what flavors you are looking for and let it age, and give it out in 2018.

Excellent suggestion for 2018... I agree totally! And I appreciate the advice on the spruce extract. I was concerned about overdoing it also, looking at the recipe last night. I tend to conjure up my own recipes, even if I'm starting with a known recipe. I tend to monkey with the known recipe and use it as a starting point.

I was thinking of using a smoky single-malt Scotch, like Ardbeg or Laphroaig, and soak some American oak chips in it, then add it to secondary. Right now the recipe leans just towards the cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla. I'll scratch the spruce extract.

Now you have me thinking of the whisky method. Any thoughts on blending the whisky and oak with the cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla, or do people here feel that would be overkill for a Christmas porter?

I'm leaning away from bourbon only because one individual who would receive this doesn't like bourbon. But he's a single-malt Scotch fan. Got me into it years ago.

 

[thehaze]

A Xmas brew would be something in the lines of what De Struise are making: a Pannepot or a Tjeeses or maybe even an Albert or Balck Damnation.

Frankly, I love Tjeeses and I love Pannepot and for me, those are almost perfect Xmas brews.