Mulled Beer: Perfect Holiday Drink?

I have a bottle of that BFM 'after ski' beer in the cellar. Supposed to be mulled and served warm, I've been waiting for a real chilly day, but we haven't had one yet.

 

I don't know about this stuff. I can drink warm, mulled wine because it's like eating a piece of warm fruit pie, but drinking warmed-up beer would be like eating a warm bowl of Wheaties. Uhg!

 

Cascade Brewing here in Portland used to make Glueh Kriek: a spiced sour cherry ale which was served warm. Great stuff.

 

I don't think it's much different than the origins of beer. Let's be honest, there probably weren't a lot of refrigeration units around a few thousand years ago.

 

The History Channel disagrees.

Can you do this with quads, barley wines, meads, or wee heavys?

 

The couple times I've attempted mulled beer have not been successful. Perhaps I used the wrong beer. Perhaps I did not add enough sugar. I don't know. I make mulled wine and mulled cider every year and they are very enjoyable. The mulled beer has been kind of gross.

 

Mulled wine is so good, but I'd think that beer would be flat and that would be offputting. Maybe with just the right beer it would be amazing, but the recipe in that article was pretty damn vague.

 

If I hadn't tasted it myself I never would have guessed a mulled beer could be that good.

 

Just ask Clarence the Angel. He ordered mulled wine at Martini's Bar.

 

Isn't that made to be spiced and hot temp? Id try it with an oud bruin or coffee beer. But i dont think id like much else. Maybe a dipa since i tend to let them warm up quite a lot anyway.

 

Now that I think about it, Quelque Chose from Unibroue was another spiced cherry ale that was meant to be served warm. I don't know if they still make it; I haven't seen it for years. Tasty, but not nearly as good as that Cascade Glueh Kriek.

This thread is tempting me to try warming up a bottle of Anchor Christmas Ale. Or adding some spices to a hefty wee heavy and gently warming that up. You know, for science.

 

5 rabbit, a brewery here in Chicago, does a barleywine called Ponche that is meant to be consumed warm like mulled wine. I haven't tried it but here's a review in case you're interested: http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2015/01/22/beer-to-keep-warm-with-5-rabbits-ponche

 

I made something similar this holiday season, and it didn't turn out half bad. I used some Boulevard Harvest Dance Wheat Wine I had kicking around, added some French apple cider, and then spiced it like a mulled wine (cinnamon and cloves).

I'm tempted to do the same.

 

try making Flip, but remember todays sugar is a bit sweeter than that of old if you are following an original recipe.

 

problem to me is you'd probably lose carbonation heating up a beer, I'm also worried that the booze would come forward very strongly. still can't help feeling intrigued though