Do you want to brew one of the 12 beers of Christmas?

[rhoadsrage]

Spiced Bourbon Stout
This beer has the typical jet black stout body with a good but thin cocoa colored head. The aroma is full anise with support from black cardamom and ginger blended in the background. There are hints of chocolate malt and some black roasted malt underneath. The taste has nice chocolate malt flavors with some hints of black roasted malt but that is covered up by the spice. The spice is identical to my grandma's pink "church candies". They are a bit like peptobismol with a wintergreen quality, and she would always have them in her purse in church. The best way to describe that is ginger with cinnamon hints and cardamom notes. The mouthfeel is creamy with a no real alcohol heat. The bourbon is very subtle but does come through just a touch as the beer is pretty warm and there is a nice stout underneath the spices. The taste starts to grow on me or maybe its the alcohol, but I will be interested to see what some ages does to this.

 

[rhoadsrage]

Holy Ginger Snap (batman)
This beer has warm brown body the color of ice tea with a thin wisp of light tan head that last and last. The aroma of ginger and toasted malt has a slight vinous note and some molasses character to it. The taste has a smooth toasted malt flavor with nice molasses and dried ginger flavors supporting it. The finish has that ginger warmth that lingers just a moment. It also gives really nice ginger burbs, too. The ginger snaps really add a nice blend of cookie character and ginger to a nice beer base.

 

[rhoadsrage]

The three wise men:
I wanted to drink this on 3 kings day but time got away from me, as usual. I reviewed a Westy 12 that is either 4 or 8 years old, sfrisbe's quad and bourbon barrel quad. Needless to say I slept very well last night.

The Westy poured a slightly dense crystal clear brown body with a very soft carbonation and a thin wisp of snow white head that remained as a thin ring. The last pour had a large lump of trub drop into the glass. The aroma is a slightly perfumed candy sugar aroma with some fruity ester hints. The taste has more of the slightly sweet candy sugar with some soft woody bitterness and a faint grape/cassis fruity ester to follow in a dry finish. The mouthfeel was slightly slippery with a soft alcohol heat. It is simple and elegant.
sfrisbe's clone had a a bit stronger carbonation and a much better head of light tan that lasted for a good long bit. It had a nice touch of sweetness but not as much candy character and the bitterness was a bit stronger but still has that woody character. That is what I would expect from a young westy. There is a slightly vinous and fruity ester in the finish but the alcohol is still young and full. Finish is just a touch more sweet that the original but still dry and not sweet at all. The mouthfeel is a bit more full but that might just be the carbonation difference. This was a delicious beer that I can't wait to try with some age on it.
Now the monster. The Bourbon Barrel Quad. The big oaky aroma has wonderful character of paper straws and fresh cut oak wit nice bourbon flavor growing in the finish and an alcohol warmth that supports it all. This is a big beer with big bourbon barrel characters but the quad flavor shows up in the background. Again delicious but I will enjoy this with some age. I also blended 50:50 with sfrisne's original and the quad really came through with some balanced barrel flavors. I love a big barrel so either way it is great.

 

[Rivenin]

You're in for a treat. The fruitcake ale was awesome!

well i was reading our water supply stuff, looks like there is a ton of chloramines. so that explains the heavy plastic smell and taste .
had to dump it, i have the same taste in another beer and didn't notice till after i brewed this one. ah well. and it didn't age off after almost 6 months.
i'll brew it again for sure!
just dunno when

 

[biochemedic]

Also a tip: heal to the sky when you are drinking from a boot, otherwise you get a face full of beer at the end.

Das BOOT!

I've always loved this homebrewing sequence from Beer Fest!

 

[rhoadsrage]

That video is very funny. I guess I will have to watch the movie now.

Rivenin- do you treat your water with campden tablets or us a charcoal filter to pull out the chloramines? I have used both with good results.

 

[Broham1]

Spyder, what fruits did you end up using with the fruitcake old ale? I think I'm racking to secondary this weekend and am looking to see what you did and if you'd make any adjustments after tasting it.

 

[Rivenin]

Rivenin- do you treat your water with campden tablets or us a charcoal filter to pull out the chloramines? I have used both with good results.

Nope. Hadn't read that I needed it for all brewing. However I just bought the campden tablets so I'm going to test those and see how it turns out with a simple beer. And if it works, campden tablets and fruitcake ale will be meeting each other later this year.

 

[spyder2723]

Spyder, what fruits did you end up using with the fruitcake old ale? I think I'm racking to secondary this weekend and am looking to see what you did and if you'd make any adjustments after tasting it.

I used 12oz apricots, 24oz cranberries, 12oz cherries, 12oz raisins, I think, sadly I took some bad notes. I like the taste of the beer with these fruits. THe only thing I would change would be to use a larger secondary since the fruit displaced so much area. Also I would make sure and use a container with a larger opening cause that fruit was a pain to get in and out.

 

[Broham1]

I used 12oz apricots, 24oz cranberries, 12oz cherries, 12oz raisins, I think, sadly I took some bad notes. I like the taste of the beer with these fruits. THe only thing I would change would be to use a larger secondary since the fruit displaced so much area. Also I would make sure and use a container with a larger opening cause that fruit was a pain to get in and out.

Thanks so much! I'm really looking forward to this one. Even without the fruit, this is a tasty brew.

 

[sfrisby]

Yes, actually.

I apologize for the delay in getting my portion shipped out. I've been having some fairly major (and VERY uncomfortable) health issues lately, which is absolutely perfect timing with the holidays. I'm just about patched up now and I'll be getting my boxes mailed out within the next day or so.

KFH- how are the medical issues coming?

 

[rhoadsrage]

Good to know your on the mend.

 

[rhoadsrage]

Wow I realized I never posted some of the other brews. Here is the Christmas gruit with a gingerbread.

It pours a hazy slightly dense brown glowing body with a sticky light tan head that is impressive without the help of any hops. The blend of spices in the nose with some cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and peppercorn qualities is nice and translates to the flavor aswell. There is some more dried ginger and dried citrus character added to the flavor and a cinnamon/green spruce tips note lingers after each sip. It has a very nice warming quality tasted great with the gingerbread. Another one went really nice with chicken tekka masala. I haven't had many gruits and this is by far one of the best.

 

[rhoadsrage]

This is the Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock
It has a nice hazy copper body with a lumpy off-white head that last while sticking to the glass leaving register marks with each sip. There is a gentle carbonation that pushes to the surface. The soft warm spicy yeast esters has some hints of dried fruit and butter toffee when it warms a bit. The soft yeasty spice in the taste has some soft banana and clove hints with a dry finish that has a club soda and green hop note. The bread crust and toffee notes come through and blend with the yeast character nicely. The tight fizz keeps this beer crisp and it is not hard to finish 22 ozs. of this. It is very sessionable and comforting.

 

[sfrisby]

Wait. The Abby weizen was KFH's. Wasn't he the last one that went AWOL? Did everyone else get a shipment?

 

[spyder2723]

I think he means the Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock from Willum, the tasting notes are similar to what I tasted.

 

[Teromous]

Are you guys planning to do this, or something similar, for 2012 as well? It looks like it was a lot of fun, and I'm interested!

 

[rhoadsrage]

My bad. Sorry Willum, meant to give you the credit for this brew. Thanks for clearing that up.

As for a 2012 series, I'm not sure but if someone else wants to take the lead feel free.

 

[usfmikeb]

Cherries are back in season here, just picked five pounds for this year's batch of the Cherry Dubbel!

 

[biochemedic]

Funny, I had just been thinking about PM'ing rhoadsrage just the other day about perhaps starting up a 2012 thread...I'm currently brewing the Caramel Quad (it's bulk aging already), so I might be willing to put up that one this year...

 

[sfrisby]

Ironically, working on redoing the quad. Since last year I have gone all grain with an aeration stone and stir plate so the attenuation problem from last year should be fixed. But if quad is now spoken for, I'll have to look at something else.

 

[biochemedic]

As for a 2012 series, I'm not sure but if someone else wants to take the lead feel free.

I created a new thread this morning for a 2012 project...there's already 2 brewers signed up besides myself...

 

[sfrisby]

Xcorpia,

Drinking my saved bottle of your cranberry lambicky alongside this years contributor.

Aging your beer for a year was fantastic. Thanks so much for participating. The head was just over the top a year later. Literally. Fantastick lacing.The cranberries still come through wonderfully. Througly enjoying this.

Happy Holidays!