Beer!

firkin

firkin

Joined
Jan 26, 2002
Messages
2,737
Whoo-hoo!

Just scored a few bottles of Stone Brewing's Double Bastard Ale. This is one fine, "assertive" well-crafted malt beverage. Have to ration them--That's most of my special holiday beer for the season. Not quite as hard as sounds, this is strong, sipping, winter-warmer beer, but it will be hard task nonetheless.

A tasty treat for those that enjoy hoppy brews, but with plenty of tasty chewy malt underneath if not taken too cold. Yum.

Anybody get special beers for the holidays, and or watch for the winter or X-mas brews?
 
I was going to drink to sometjhing on the forum a few nights ago and dicovered that I didn't have a beer in the house. It has dawned on me that it has been a month and a couple of days with no beer and I wondered why I had such a drastic weight loss.:)
 
I brewed a Christmas ale a few years ago. It had spices like nutmeg and ginger in it. It came out wrong. It tasted like medicine or something. My wife and I ended up refering to it as our Holiday Elixer.
 
Originally posted by Bobwhite
I brewed a Christmas ale a few years ago. It had spices like nutmeg and ginger in it. It came out wrong. It tasted like medicine or something. My wife and I ended up refering to it as our Holiday Elixer.
Click to expand...

Maybe too much nutmeg or orange peel? I've made two batches of holiday-style beer, and the first one came out pretty decent, but had some of that mediciny character, but the second batch (brewed 12/31/99)is one of the two best batches I've ever made. I still have a few bottles and ration them out at family gatherings.:)

The other "best" batch was a honey "lager" that lasted about a week.:) :( Must make some more of that...
 
I have not been able to brew in a year or so. Our brew supply store went out of business, and I just have not got around to buying supplies online. Do you know of any good online suppy companies?
 
My favorite beer to drink during the holidays is the same that I normally drink, Guinness and Murphy's. I love a good stout!

A couple of years ago Samuel Adams came out with an ale called Old Fezziwig, not sure if they still make it or not but it was a great holiday beer. Old Fezziwig had subtle nutmeg and orange flavor. It was perfect to drink after a night of stressful Christmas shopping.
 
Bobwhite,

Haven't brewed in years, but I used to mail-order from these people--they've been around for 20 years or so, from what I understand. They used to put out a pretty informative catalog.:

http://www.williamsbrewing.com

Pretty good selection, and dry malt extract sure is a lot cheaper to ship. I found their liquid yeast paks to be convenient and worth the money over using dry yeast. If you do full mash, cultivate yeasts and other hardcore home brewing procedures, there are probably less expensive places or better places.
 
I made Cherries in the Snow last year for a holiday beer. It was hell finding 10 pounds of unpitted sour cherries! Everybody has sweet ones. It was an interesting experience to make it. It ended up tasting like beer but somehow different. No real hop taste which meant no real aftertaste. That made it popular with some female family members who don't usually like my stronger beer. It was fun to make but I don't think I will do it again.

I like to make Doppel Bock for winter. Then you get some malt taste! Yum. But it costs me over $50 for ingredients since you are basically putting in enough stuff for two batches.

My standard beer is a honey lager. I use local honey that is totally raw and unprocessed. Makes a really nice beer that goes with anything.

I buy stuff from Williams and they are a good group to do business with. Especially if you are in the Western US since you then get free shipping!
 
This summer I hit the road and drove to Bend OR. Then over to the coast and back home. Imagine, two weeks on the road and hitting every brewpub between central OR and home. Had a great time and found some great brews. Bad news is everything that I brought back is now gone! My favorite brew on the trip was from Wild River Brewing in Grants Pass. They do a Double Eagle Imperial stout that only a Homeric Oddyssy could do justice to.
 
Barley, malt, water. (Bavarian beer law of 1516)

Nothing more - and you can bring out such a great variety of beers...
Andreas
 
If you like stout, "Steep Canyon Stout", by Humes Brewing, of Glen Ellen, CA. is fantastic. And, unfortunately, very hard to find.
 
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