Holiday Porter

[OwenH89]

I'm wanting to brew a warm holiday beer for the upcoming season. I was thinking about getting Midwest's porter kit and adding some kind of combination of anise, vanilla, cocoa, oak, and bourbon (probably not all of these but at least a couple). From what I've read, this would be approaching the same realm as NB bourbon barrel porter but would be a little less costly and have room for more creativity. Any suggestions on how to go about doing this? Has anyone succeeded with a porter along the same lines? If so, how?

 

[OwenH89]

Just posting something else to get this thread back to the top where people can see it. Hopefully someone can help...

 

[sfrisby]

All good ideas. If you go with cocoa, May I suggest a couple if vanilla beans with it? It helps to bring out the chocolate flavor. Maybe some holiday spices along with it.

 

[VillageBrew]

I did a Fuller's clone and racked a gallon to a side jug for experimenting, while I bottled the remaining 4 gallons. For the exp. I lightly grinded 8 oz of coffee beans and added that to 12 oz of bourbon. Cold steeped it in the frig for 3 days. Filtered, filtered, and filtered again before adding it to the brew just before bottleing. I know it will raise my abv and hopefully the tastes will blend over time. It should be ready around the mid of december. I will try one and leave the rest (I hope I have the will power) until march or so. Williamsburg Alewerks has a wonderful Bourbon Barrel Porter that I love.

 

[OwenH89]

Almost like an Irish coffee brew? Interesting. I know that Bells uses licorice in their porter... Any recommendations on how to incorporate this or anise with bourbon and coffee?

 

[VillageBrew]

Soak the anise in bourbon & lightly ground coffee beans and then filter it and dump it in. You could add it to a secondary or add it at bottleing like I did. I am bottle aging mine for at least 4 months. If you don't want to do that, then I would recommend going with the secondary for several weeks and then bottle/keg.