Filed under: Beer
Christmas is a season of excesses, one of which has to be holiday beer. Some of these seasonal concoctions introduce holiday flavors like caramel, cinnamon, nutmeg, and chocolate, creating a perfect holiday flavor for your celebratory toast. But, like any Christmas indulgence, you can have too much of a good thing. I recently tried Thomas Hooker’s Nor’easter winter ale and was absolutely knocked out by the caramel sweetness. This was not a session ale–one was more than enough. In my opinion, a perfect holiday treat requires a bit of the bitter and the sweet, the naughty and nice, if you will.
So, in hopes of finding that perfect balance, my buddy Will and I brewed up a batch of Charlie Papazian’s “Holiday Cheer” recipe using ginger root, cinnamon stick, honey, and orange zest. I lugged home a dozen of the bottles to share with my family, and I broke out the first taste with my dad last night. It’s definitely still a “young” beer that will probably need a few more days or even weeks to come into its own (gotta improve on the timing next year), but I could already sense that we hit closer to the mark.
The color is quite dark, nearly porter-like, due to the crushed black patent malt. Since we crushed the grains ourselves, I think we ended up with a good amount of the roasty coffee and chocolate flavors on the nose. The amount of cinnamon spiciness is comparable to Harpoon’s excellent Winter Warmer seasonal. There’s a hint of the honey sweetness in the flavor, but the hops, ginger, and orange haven’t come through yet. Once again, the beer still needs time, but for a first taste, I’m satisfied. It’ll be a great way to toast the new year–cheers!
