Recipe: Christmas beer

Throughout history, beers that have higher alcohol content and richness has been enjoyed during the winter holidays. Many breweries produce unique seasonal drinks – they may be darker, stronger, spiced and more complex than their normal beers. Spiced versions came from America and Belgium, as English or German breweries traditionally do not use any spices in their recipes.

Winter Seasonal Beers assume cold weather and the Christmas holiday time. What makes them special? They usually include seasonal spices, special sugars and any other ingredient that reminds you of holiday confections. From brewing aspect these kind of beers are generally stronger and darker, they also have a rich body and warming finish to heat you up in the cold winter season. For appearance, taste and aroma many interpretations are possible, therefore the style has no certain specifications. But one for sure, Christmas beers are clear, sweet and complex, and coming from the darker side.

Grain bill

The majority of your grist should be an Ale style malt, with a possilbe addition of a darker base malt for some extra body. We wanted the sweetness of Melany, complemented by a darker caramel malt. Feel free to replace them by a mid-dark caramel malt. For the colour and roasty flavourwe add some roasted barley. We recommend a single step mash at the higher end (70⁰C / 178⁰F) to have some residual sugars. Many brewers add flavorful sugars as well, like honey, molasses, candy sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, etc.

Variety	Quantity	Quantity	Colour EBC	Colour ºL	Ratio
Swaen Ale	4 kg	7.5 lb	7	2.6	64%
Swaen Munich Dark	1 kg	1.1 lb	4	1.5	16%
Swaen Melany	0.3 kg	1.1 lb	3	1.1	5%
Gold Swaen Aroma	0.3 kg	0.66 lb	100	38	5%
Black Swaen Barley	0.15 kg	0.66 lb	1100	415	2%
Dark candy sugar	0.5 kg	0.22 lb			8%

Hops and spices

Variety	Quantity	Quantity	Duration	Alpha acid	IBU
Northern Brewer	28 g	1 oz	60 min.	7.5%	26

Hops are primarily for bittering. We advise traditional English varieties or noble hops. There is no Christmas beer without seasonal spices, most often allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger or orange peels, but any mixture is possible. Feel free to experiment. We recommend to add them 5-10 minutes before the flame out.

Yeast

Although some dark strong lagers exist in this style, an ale yeast can enhance the fruity, sweet aromas and spices much more. We would recommend to use a Belgian style yeast. In order to increase estery fruitiness, keep temperature above 22°C / 72°F. Stronger beers may need to be aged for months or even years.

Dry examples: Fermentis Safale T-58 or Mangrove Jack M47 Belgian Abbey.

Liquid examples: Whitelabs WLP002 English Ale or Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey.

Results

Batch size: 19 L / 5 gallon
Efficiency: 75%
Original gravity: 1072
Final gravity: 1015
Colour EBC: 51
Colour Lovibond: 20
IBU: 26
ABV %: 7.5
Carbonation: 2.4
pH: 5.1

Appearance: Deep brown colour, with creamy foam.
Taste profile: Sweet maltiness, with seasonal spices.
Food pairing: Desserts and spicy meals.