Holiday Beer Base?

[belsonc]

Morning all -

So I'm thinking about what I'd like to do for my holiday beer this year - and since I still have a month or so until I brew it, I still have a little time to work on the recipe.

So my question is this - when you all make your holiday beers, what kind of beer do you base it off of? I believe last year, I based it off of a scotch ale - it was the Northern Brewer kit with the mulling spices. However, this year, I'm going it alone - I wasn't THRILLED with how it came out last year, so I figure it can't hurt to try my own take on it... still working on the spices, timing, whether to "dry spice" or not, but I thought I'd pick the brain of my fellow hobbyists to see what they do. :-)

Thanks in advance!

-CB

[markaberrant]

I'm not big on spices in my "holiday" beers. When I think of "holiday" ale, I think of a malty English ale, around 7-8%, with relatively low hopping, tons of dark fruit and toffee notes, and a bit of roast malt character.

[TeufelBrew]

Haven't brewed a holiday beer since I got my equipment last holiday!

For the cold season, I really like the dark malty taste of porter and stout. I end up doing a combo of wine and beer at different times with different sides of the family. I'm not a big fan of adding spice, but letting the yeast make the interpretation.

What do you like? Make that and everyone will enjoy sharing your work.

[belsonc]

Well, when I say holiday beer, I'm thinking moreso category 21b...

http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category21.html#style21B


so we'll see what happens. :-)

Mark, sounds like you're talking about a weakly hopped old ale or something similar... generally speaking, is that about right? I'd love to do something as a base for a barleywine for next year - something nice and big and rich and let it age in the carboy for 6-8 months or so, even though I wouldn't drink it for almost a year... Not sure how strong I'd want to make it, I'd probably leave that decision up to the tolerance of the yeast, so at least I still have a month or so before I need to decide. :-)

(And I like the sound of Mark's beer, to be honest...)

[markaberrant]

I have said over and over that I hate "holiday" spices, "pumpkin" spices, etc in beer. However, a guy from Edmonton entered a "gingerbread" beer at our competition last year, and it was out of this world. It can be done, but it is very tricky. It's hard to find the balance between the base beer and the spices, keeping in mind that the flavours of both will change over time, and this is typically a beer that is aged. I would want to nail the base beer first before I start messing around with spices... at the very least split the batch so you can compare the spiced vs unspiced.

[belsonc]

See, and therein lies my question. You said nail the base beer first - and I'm asking for suggestions as to what kind of beer you (you meaning those who know more about brewing than I do) think I should use as a base. I know, for example, an IPA wouldn't be appropriate here - but what would? I'd imagine it has to be somewhat malty, not a lot of hops... but what style should I at least start with? Where do you think I should start looking? :-)

[Cosmic Charlie]

I have not made one, but I did read in BYO that Jay-Z uses an Old Ale as his base.

[markaberrant]

Definitely an Old Ale. Something around 1.065 - 1.080, with IBUs in the 30-40 range. Grain bill something like this:

86% Maris Otter
8% extra dark crystal (120-150L range)
2% chocolate malt
4% molasses

Mash high, around 154F.

[Mill Rat]

The qualities you want for the base beer are rather full-bodied with ABV in the 7-10% range for a warming and filling presence. After that, an old ale, ESB, barleywine, wiess wine, or belgian strong or strong dark ales are all good places to start. After that, any spicing has to be done right. A few years ago I got a sixer of Lakefront Brewing's holiday spiced ale, and that overly spiced train wreck made a very exclusive list of beers I could barely choke down. The rest of the sixer became liquid for making holiday beer bread. It is therefore possible for even a commercial operation to really hose up in this regard. Err on the side of too little spice until you've got some experience or you could end up with drainpour.

[Mad Scientist]

I typically go with an old ale for my recipes, but I do not pay too much attention to the gravity. Last years (2007) Xmas ale started at a whopping 1.142 O.G., and this years started at 1.101 (no temp adjust).

The 2007 was started in May 2007, and kegged in September 2007. I finally bottled it about a month ago....that's right, it stayed in the keg for almost a year. And despite being 13.5% abv, it is still sweet, and will need another year of aging--at least.

I toned it down for this year, but the beer is already in secondary at 1.018 (a cloudy yeast laden hydromter sample), so I am right where I wanted it. Beer has some nice toffee and woody noted to it, we'll see in october when I keg and bottle it.

And for what it is worth, I do not use spices. My first Xmas ale had spices, and even with consevative spicing, I did not like it that much.

[MrNate]

I was thinking about doing a trippel this year for my holiday brew. When you think about it, it actually works pretty well from a style standpoint.

I don't think I've collected enough champagne bottles, though.

[Mad Scientist]

You might find a resturaunt that probably serves a lot, and just tell them you need a bunch, or find your local recycling yard, and just look in the section where they put the glass.

Don't look at me though...I really don't like the bubbly....

[darylM]

I had a beer last holiday named Le Terrible that tasted like a dark chocolate shake. I think it was 70% base and 30% chocolate malt. I really don't know but it was good stuff.