Homebrew for Holidays

I am wondering the same, I think I may do a cranberry ale

 

I've got an orange blossom mead going right now on its 5th week today. I will rack half to 5lbs of cranberries once fermentation is almost complete for a nice Thanksgiving/Christmas Dessert wine.

Also have a chocolate pumpkin ale that should last through thanksgiving.

Next up when a ferementer is free is a winter spiced ale - shooting for a gingerbread type thing I think.

 

I plan on brewing a sour cherry dubbel with a touch of cinnamon.

 

I don't think it's too late for a winter warmer.

 

Me either, I think it is a good time to brew one.

 

I made a barleywine about 2 months ago. There were a lot of late addition hops and it already tastes amazing. If you really watch aeration and temp control during fermentation you should have something that will shape up nicely for the holidays.

 

Brewing a Baltic porter this weekend because my wife demands it. I fear it will fall short of the BBA Baltic porter that Mark Magiera put on at the Bobcat last year but she will have to settle.

Then, making a big pumpkin weizenbock on Columbus Day weekend.

Hoping both will be drinkable by Thanksgiving, but they might have to age a bit more.

 

My Winter Warmer is basically the same as Jamil's, so rather than infringe...

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Winter-Spiced-Beer-The-Jamil-Show-09-24-07

 

I did an RIS and plan on bottling it up next weekend. I don't like to get too crazy with holiday beers that I'm going to give away because I like to be confident in the product and not feel like I'm handing off a dud.

 

I will be doing a Maple Ale for the cold winter months.

 

They're not winter warmer beers but for the holidays I'm giving family a gift of a variety 6er of:

Fat Tire clone
Cranberry Wheat Ale
Holiday brown ale with cinnamon, nutmeg, & some other spices.

These people are BMC drinkers so nothing crazy, but I think it will be a nice sampling of home brews and craft beers.

Note: the wheat and fat tire clone only need 6 weeks or so, the brown ale needs about 3 months so it might be a bit late in the season for that.

 

I did a RIS beginning of august, will be bottling in a few weeks, should be primed for the holidays

 

I have a friend who grew up in Ohio who convinced me to brew a Great Lakes Christmas Ale. I've heard and read good reviews from others as well so that is what is on my horizon.

 

I like to do a good holiday porter with mint

 

I'm brewing a holiday saison:
Bah the recipe site has some conficker thing....
It's a saison with Aromatic malts, D90 candi sugar to make it dark, 1lb of corn sugar, pilsen extract.
Using Wyeast 3726.
I sampled it yesterday when I took a reading, tastes like a saison crossed with a Dubbel, very nice.

Oh wait I have the PDF saved:
5 gallon batch
KIT INVENTORY:
SPECIALTY GRAIN
- 0.5 lbs Belgian Aromatic malt
- 0.25 lbs Weyermann Carafa III
- 0.25 lbs Weyermann CaraAroma
FERMENTABLES
- 6 lbs Pilsner malt syrup
- 1 lbs D-90 Candi Syrup
- 1 lbs Briess Pilsen dry malt extract late addition (15 min)
- 1 lbs Corn Sugar late addition (0 min)
HOPS & FLAVORINGS
- 1 oz US Magnum (60 min)
YEAST
- Wyeast 3726 Farmhouse Ale. Apparent attenuation: 74–79%.
Optimum temp: 70–95° F.

 

Since I just switched to all-grain, I'm Kiss-ing it! (keep it simple, stupid).

However, I can't resist the urge to at least consider making a butternut squash beer. It's the most christmasy of the squash family of beer-related gourds

(we'll see if it actually happens though)

 

My plan for this year was to have a raspberry imperial stout ready to go for the holiday season. Some other brew ideas came up though, and it doesn't look like I'm going to be brewing anything especially for the holidays.