Winter/holiday beer brew siggestions

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jdutton24

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Looking for a good holiday/Christmas brew to get going. What y'all recommend? Was looking at Austin homebrew site and they have some interesting ones. I love abita Christmas ale! Prolly my favorite brew. Anyone have a clone? I also love Sam Adams holiday porter. I also like some spiced ales.
 
I just made a Belgian dubbel for Christmas this year. I usually do a dark English style ale with cinnamon and ginger root and I've also done a scotch ale with cranberries and other spices.
What base style were you going for? High abv or more of a sessionable beer?
 
I just made a Belgian dubbel for Christmas this year. I usually do a dark English style ale with cinnamon and ginger root and I've also done a scotch ale with cranberries and other spices.
What base style were you going for? High abv or more of a sessionable beer?
Session able, I like brown ales,Porter's, red ales, stouts more so than belgians.

I was thinking brown ale with mulled cider spices, bourbon barrel stout with vanilla and cinnamon or something with some spruce tips and spices
 
A spruce tip spiced beer sounds pretty awesome. There's probably several spruce tip recipes on here to get you started. Then just add the spices you want.
 
Looking for a good holiday/Christmas brew to get going. What y'all recommend? Was looking at Austin homebrew site and they have some interesting ones. I love abita Christmas ale! Prolly my favorite brew. Anyone have a clone? I also love Sam Adams holiday porter. I also like some spiced ales.

Now that you mention it one of Sam Adams best is their spiced Winter Lager, as is their Old Fezziwig's. It's a mild seasonal they brew during the fall and winter. Winter Lager is one of the few they brew that tastes good with the amount of Crystal used. I'm no real fan of using crystal for flavoring anything other than a British-style ale, but their Winter Lager is one of the better commercial ones you might try and clone.
 
Now that you mention it one of Sam Adams best is their spiced Winter Lager, as is their Old Fezziwig's. It's a mild seasonal they brew during the fall and winter. Winter Lager is one of the few they brew that tastes good with the amount of Crystal used. I'm no real fan of using crystal for flavoring anything other than a British-style ale, but their Winter Lager is one of the better commercial ones you might try and clone.
i don't generally like spices in beer, but the autumn mix pack from sam adams is pretty good.

The oaked red ale is a little one note on the base beer, but i've never had a beer that nailed the oakyness more than that one.
 
I went by my LHBS. I got a samuel Smith winter welcome clone kit. I wanted to support them right now. Bug I'm thinking of either vanilla cream ale with spruce tips or a noble pils type with spruce tips for a spring beer. Thoughts?.
 
I went by my LHBS. I got a samuel Smith winter welcome clone kit. I wanted to support them right now. Bug I'm thinking of either vanilla cream ale with spruce tips or a noble pils type with spruce tips for a spring beer. Thoughts?.
Noble pils for sure.
 
i don't have experience with it, but northern brewer hops are said to have a mint edge to them as well.
 
My favorite Holiday Beer is Reveloution Brewing’s (Chicago) Fistmas Ale. No idea what’s in it, but it has a definite holiday spice to it, but it’s subtle, not in your face.

I just ordered this...

https://spicetrekkers.com/products/tea/nordic-forest-herbal-tea
...along with some spruce tips. I was thinking of working them into a Holiday Ale of some kind, but don’t have a firm plan yet.
 
My favorite Holiday Beer is Reveloution Brewing’s (Chicago) Fistmas Ale. No idea what’s in it, but it has a definite holiday spice to it, but it’s subtle, not in your face.

I just ordered this...

https://spicetrekkers.com/products/tea/nordic-forest-herbal-tea
...along with some spruce tips. I was thinking of working them into a Holiday Ale of some kind, but don’t have a firm plan yet.
i'll have to try that if i come across it. reveloution's beers tend to be mild flavored, but they're generally well brewed.
 
Next weekend I'll be brewing a chocolate coffee porter. It will be my first time developing my own recipe.

Last year I brewed a spiced winter ale that was pretty tasty.
 
Just put my 2020 Holiday Ale to bed. Malt was 15lbs two row, 2lbs pilsner, 2lbs special B, .25lbs each crystal 75 and what I THINK is crystal 120 (homeroasted), and 1lb flaked barley. Hops were 1oz Willamette at 60 and 30. Tomorrow I'll get a spice bottle set up with cinnamon, allspice, pumpkin pie spice, and dried orange peel, which will soak in 22oz of spiced rum for a week before adding to the fermenter, and sit for at least another week, possibly two. This will be bottled so it will need to be ready by mid-December. Brewery still smells fantastic, like someone was baking graham crackers. Can't wait for this one to be ready.
 
I do a Celebration Ale clone every year. Not traditional in a sense of spices or dark malts, but more crystal malt than I normally use. It’s a big hit through Thanksgiving and Christmas.

18DBA86D-CC2B-42C8-8C92-AD769EBAB618.jpeg
 
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I just made a Belgian dubbel for Christmas this year. I usually do a dark English style ale with cinnamon and ginger root and I've also done a scotch ale with cranberries and other spices.
What base style were you going for? High abv or more of a sessionable beer?
This year I went for a quad, spiced with some "Christmas" stuff, it was intended tobe 12% but there are yeast labs handling var diastaticus yeast without saying hahaha so I have a 15'6% beer and a 12% "dubbel" from the second runnings and a 3 hours boil
 
This year I went for a quad, spiced with some "Christmas" stuff, it was intended tobe 12% but there are yeast labs handling var diastaticus yeast without saying hahaha so I have a 15'6% beer and a 12% "dubbel" from the second runnings and a 3 hours boil
Damn! 3 hour boil? That's a great 2nd runnings beer and a nice long brew day. Enjoy those, they sounds great.
 
I do a Celebration Ale clone every year. Not traditional in a sense of spices or dark malts, but more crystal malt than I normally use. It’s a big hit through Thanksgiving and Christmas.

View attachment 703769
Just drank my last SN Celie. This beer has been a cult classic in my circle since I can remember. Even though I can brew it at any time it has to be at the right time of year otherwise it just doesn't taste as good. It's out super early this year so I'll probably have to brew a fresh batch here soon for the actual season it was made for.
 
Damn! 3 hour boil? That's a great 2nd runnings beer and a nice long brew day. Enjoy those, they sounds great.
Yeah, it was an 8 hours long brew day without including cleaning haha I added some extra sugars too, mainly for colour as it was a bit paler than the quad

They are conditioning in the bottle, I will give them until January but I will open a bottle of the spiced one by Christmas
 
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