Make your winter warmer

by Ray Daniels

Although not an official style, winter and holiday beers have become quite popular with brewers. In the U.S., such beers have been a product of the microbrewery revolution. They have succeeded both because consumers like them and because it gives the breweries a distinctive way to market themselves during the holiday season.

Recipes you'll find here:
Wind-Whipped Weizenbock
Olde St. Nick's Tipple
Glowing Ember Winter Warmer

Of course European brewers have been making special beers for the holiday season for hundreds of years. Perhaps the earliest of these was Salvator, the original doppelbock beer. The Franciscan monks who came to the Munich area from Paula, Italy in the 17^th century created a strong beer to sustain them during their Advent and Lenten fasts. Not surprisingly, they named it "the Savior," both because of their daily focus on the true meaning of these seasons and because the hearty beer helped them to survive their fasts.

When this beer was made available to the general public in 1780, consumers who were already familiar with strong beers called bocks, dubbed the new beer a "doppelbock" or double bock. Today, Salvator is still produced year-around by the secularized Paulaner brewery, but other breweries in Europe often produce bock for sale during December holidays.

To join the party, Germany's weizen brewers created their own bock beer. This beer retained the wheat-dominated grist and distinctive clovey yeast of their traditional weizens, but it was made to a higher gravity so that it displayed an alcoholic strength that rivaled those of a bock. Today, Weizenbocks are still sometimes brewed as a holiday treat.

Despite these traditions, most of the imported holiday beers that we find today in the U.S. come from Great Britain. Winter and holiday beers have become so popular in the UK in recent years that many beer festivals are organized around this theme. In 1997, for the first time, the British consumer organization CAMRA will hold a formal Winter Ale festival complete with a competition to select the Champion Winter Beer of Britain.

Many of these winter beers are dark with a distinct malt balance that may be supplemented by fruity, woody, roast or chocolate flavors. Some are quite sweet, even cloying and they are often classified as a "strong mild." Other winter beers, typically appearing under the flag of "Winter Warmer" are more like a strong bitter. They are amber in color and nicely balanced with hops. Often these beers convey a woody or nutty malt character that some consider to be the signature flavor of the style.

In the US, holiday beers spiced with everything from cinnamon to cardamom or spiked with the likes of licorice, spruce, ginger or orange peel can be found. Even though the historical precedents for such additions can be traced to the pre-hop era of brewing in Europe, contemporary production of such beers appears limited to the American shores. Such spiced concoctions lend another dimension to the diverse winter beer landscape.

If all this talk about winter brews whets your appetite to brew, here are a few recipes for winter beers that you could whip up on a cold day.

Dandy Doublebock

See the article on bock beer. Multiply malt and extract quantities by 1.15 to raise the gravity up to doppelbock range. Hop quantities can remain the same.

Wind-Whipped Weizenbock

5 gallons
O.G.: 1.066

All Grain Grist:
8 lbs Wheat malt
4 lbs Two-row/Pilsener or Pale Ale malt
0.5 Crystal malt (40 - 80 deg L)

Main mash rest should be 153-155 deg F for 45 minutes. As an option, you might begin with a protein rest at 122 deg F for 30 mins. Mash out at 168 deg F as always.

Grain/Extract Grist:
2 lbs Wheat malt
1 lb Two-row/Pilsener or Pale Ale malt
0.5 lb Crystal malt (40 - 80 deg L)

Soak grains at about 155-160 deg F for 30 to 45 minutes using a large grain bag.

Remove grains and add a wheat/malt extract: 6 lbs of dry or 8 pounds of syrup.

Boil wort for 90 minutes.

Add 6 AAUs of Hallertau, Hersbrucker or Tettnang hops 45 minutes before the end of the boil to achieve 21 to 24 IBUs. (6 AAUs = 1 oz of 6% alpha acid content hops or 1.5 oz of 4% alpha acid hops, etc.)

Ferment with a weizen yeast and, if possible keep the fermentation temperature between 60 and 65 deg F.

Olde St. Nick's Tipple

(A Strong Mild)

The average gravity for a commercial mild ale in England is rather low, about 1.034. As a result, a "strong" mild is what most American brewers consider to be a "normal"gravity beer weighing in at 1.048 or so. In addition, many of the English recipes use sugar and this gives them a rather thin body. I've included both "with sugar" and "without sugar" options here. Of course, extract can be substituted for the majority of the pale ale malt if you prefer a mash/extract recipe. See grain/extract conversion article.

5 gallons
O.G. 1.048

Without Sugar (American) Approach
8.5 lbs Pale Ale Malt
0.5 lbs Crystal Malt
0.5 lbs Black Malt

With Sugar (English) Approach
8.0 lbs Pale Ale Malt
0.5 lbs Crystal Malt
0.5 lbs Black Malt
0.5 lb Brown Sugar (In the boil)

In both cases, the main mash can be conducted at 149 to 151 deg F. No other rests are required.

Boil wort for 90 minutes.

Add 6 to 7 AAUs of Fuggle, Goldings or Willamette hops 60 minutes before the end of the boil to achieve about 26 to 28 IBUs.

Ferment with a fairly fruity type of English Ale yeast such as Whitbread-type available in dry form or as Wyeast British Ale Yeast, #1098.

Glowing Ember Winter Warmer

Like other winter beers, hops move to the background in the typical winter warmer. Most are based on bitter or pale recipes with an increased gravity and perhaps a bit more color. As always, extract can be substituted for all but a pound or two of the pale ale malt.

5 Gallons
OG 1.058

Malt Bill
10 lbs Pale Ale Malt
0.5 lbs Crystal Malt (20 to 60 deg L)
0.5 lbs Amber Malt*
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt

* This amber malt can be any lightly toasted malt. Commercial examples include Special Roast, Biscuit, Aromatic or Victory malts. If these are not available, toast ½ pound of pale malt on a cookie sheet at 350 deg F for 20 to 30 minutes.

Mash at 151 to 153 deg F. No protein rest should be required.

Boil for 90 minutes.

Add 8 AAUs 60 minutes before the end of the boil, using Fuggle, Goldings or Willamette hops.

For a touch of hop character, use one of these three varieties and add 0.5 oz of hops 10 minutes before the end of the boil.

Ferment using a "woody" or "minerally" English yeast strain such as Wyeast London Ale, W1028.

Old Ogden's Spiced Ale

There is an endless variety of spiced ales that can be made and at least half the fun is in experimentation. See the recipe for Old Ogden's in "Ray's Favorite's."

Of course these recipes are just suggestions for things that might tickle your fancy during a cold evening. If none of them grab you right now, then think up your own winter beer creation such as a smoked porter or an orange-peel infused stout, a strong Belgian ale or a super-strength IPA. Winter brings a welcome chance to brew and a welcome opportunity to experiment and create. Have fun!