12 Beers of Christmas 2019 Edition

[Yeroc]

@fourfarthing,
I opened one of you cherry dubbels this afternoon. Really nice job. I think I like yours better than mine. I should have opened mine and yours at the same time to compare but already having one big beer this afternoon (see my earlier post), I thought I should limit myself. But I liked your beer so much I had to pop open one of mine to compare. It’s interesting that the cherry flavors in both are different. My perception is that your cherry aroma is more earthy, darker, deeper. The cherry in mine is maybe somewhat more bright and tart on the nose, which might be because my beer seems a bit more carbonated. Or did I use more sour cherries? Did you oak your beer with cubes or anything? I feel like I’m picking up something oaky and vinous that reminds me of the oak in a red wine. Really nice mouthfeel on yours too. The other thing I noticed is that your beer has a lighter red and mine is deeper red, which is neither here nor there -- just an observation. Thanks for suggesting the swap! I think I got the better end of the deal.

 

[fourfarthing]

@fourfarthing,
I opened one of you cherry dubbels this afternoon. Really nice job. I think I like yours better than mine. I should have opened mine and yours at the same time to compare but already having one big beer this afternoon (see my earlier post), I thought I should limit myself. But I liked your beer so much I had to pop open one of mine to compare. It’s interesting that the cherry flavors in both are different. My perception is that your cherry aroma is more earthy, darker, deeper. The cherry in mine is maybe somewhat more bright and tart on the nose, which might be because my beer seems a bit more carbonated. Or did I use more sour cherries? Did you oak your beer with cubes or anything? I feel like I’m picking up something oaky and vinous that reminds me of the oak in a red wine. Really nice mouthfeel on yours too. The other thing I noticed is that your beer has a lighter red and mine is deeper red, which is neither here nor there -- just an observation. Thanks for suggesting the swap! I think I got the better end of the deal.

Oddly I like yours more than mine. We are our own worst critics. I think I used fewer cherries and more sweet ones that likely fermented to a drier end beer. Also, IIRC I upped my CaCl to get some body back but that is probably also the reason for yours being brighter.

Love the swap, gonna make my friends do a side by side.

 

[anotherbeerplease]

@anotherbeerplease,
I‘m enjoying a second bottle of your fruitcake old ale and thinking about what I’ll do when brewing it for West Coast 2020. I make my own “gourmet fruitcake” every few years, and the aroma of your ale was spot on IMHO. You veered way from the Randy Mosher recipe and did something a little different, right? Curious what you would do the same or different if you were brewing this again. Anything different with the grain bill or the dried fruit ratios?

Cheers!

Really glad you are enjoying it.
I didn't take great notes but I think I followed Mosher's additions except for the ginger because I didn't have any.
I think the yeast made a big difference: I used cultured yeast from Bell's Oberon bottles that had been stepped up.
Recipe was 11lbs maris otter, 3lbs munich, 1lb victory, 11oz caramunich, 11oz special b, 8oz redX for color.

I can't remember but I believe I added about a pound or so of sugar when I racked onto the fruit, to help jumpstart the yeast and add some avb (was targeting 8.5 or 9%)

The aging also helped, I think I brewed 1/12/19, exactly 1 year ago. As I sampled through the year it really started improving in the last few months. Prior to that it was a bit too overpowering.

The end result was pretty unique, not something I would want to have regularly but... for a winter's night I thought it was pretty decent, the more I drank the more I liked it, maybe that was just because of the 9% haha

If you save one for 2020 it may end up pretty dang good by then. Cheers!

 

[jack13]

Got the last one today, so here's the money shot!

 

[Yeroc]

Got the last one today, so here's the money shot!

View attachment 661829

That's a handsome looking group.

 

[gromitdj]

I received my beers from @bradccook today. And it looks like @jack13 got his. So they should be coming in...

 

[jerbrew]

Got the last one today, so here's the money shot!

View attachment 661829

That one without a label looks the most tasty.

 

[jack13]

That one without a label looks the most tasty.

hahhahah. Hey, as long as only ONE doesn't have a label, we're OK!

 

[grampamark]

The Spiced Dunkelweizen from @bradccook arrived a few minutes ago. The FedEx dude called me and said “I’m at the end of your driveway and I don’t think I can make it into your yard”. I was in the tractor, plowing snow, about 1/4 mile away, at the other end of the driveway. I drove down to the road in a pickup and got my box of beersicles.

It’s been way below 0°F all across MT for about a week; delivery vans aren’t insulated and barely have enough heat to keep the driver from developing frostbite, so it’s not too surprising the beer was frozen.

The ice popped the top on one bottle; the bag contained most of the liquid. The other two are still sealed, but have ice at the base of the necks. But, I have now collected the full set.

 

[TwistedGray]

Yikes!!

And here we are complaining about 50 degree weather.

The Spiced Dunkelweizen from @bradccook arrived a few minutes ago. The FedEx dude called me and said “I’m at the end of your driveway and I don’t think I can make it into your yard”. I was in the tractor, plowing snow, about 1/4 mile away, at the other end of the driveway. I drove down to the road in a pickup and got my box of beersicles.

It’s been way below 0°F all across MT for about a week; delivery vans aren’t insulated and barely have enough heat to keep the driver from developing frostbite, so it’s not too surprising the beer was frozen.

The ice popped the top on one bottle; the bag contained most of the liquid. The other two are still sealed, but have ice at the base of the necks. But, I have now collected the full set.

View attachment 662327

 

[ESBrewer]

Looking at all those pictures, the one that has a raven (or is it a craw) in the label must be real good...

 

[fourfarthing]

Looking at all those pictures, the one that has a raven (or is it a craw) in the label must be real good...

That one is quite tasty @Yeroc

 

[Beekeeper]

The west Abbey Weizen has about 5 minutes left in the boil.

View attachment 649350

Do you recall, did you include any sort of spices for the Abbey Weizen?
German Weizen, unlike a Wit or Weise would not (normally) include spices, and my understanding is that this brew is to express the yeast shift to Abbey from the usual wheat ale yeast. Did you do anything Chrismas-ey in your batch?

Edit: Upon re-reading the description, I now see that it says to optionally spice. I would still be interested in what you chose to do.

 

[grampamark]

Do you recall, did you include any sort of spices for the Abbey Weizen?
German Weizen, unlike a Wit or Weise would not (normally) include spices, and my understanding is that this brew is to express the yeast shift to Abbey from the usual wheat ale yeast. Did you do anything Chrismas-ey in your batch?

Edit: Upon re-reading the description, I now see that it says to optionally spice. I would still be interested in what you chose to do.

I’m currently 250 miles from my brewing notes at our farm. At my age, I’m lucky to remember what I had for breakfast, let alone what I was brewing 4 years ago. I did add some spice but nothing comes to mind at the moment. I’ll be back at the farm early next week and will go through my notes.

 

[j1laskey]

HB Funk is settling in after 3 years.

 

[TwistedGray]

HB Funk is settling in after 3 years.

View attachment 822830

Wrong Christmas trade year, I think?