I’m currently brewing a winter ale based mostly on my own design. It’s in the old ale style – which means it’s strong and malty – with plenty of fun holiday spices such as allspice, anise, cinnamon and cloves. It’s been fermenting for about three days now at 65-68 degrees and the bubbles coming out of the blow-off tube smell amazing! It’s very high gravity (about 1.080) so the alcohol level should be reasonably high (in the range of 6-8%, I’m guessing) which means a nice warm beer for the cold months.

I’m tentatively calling it “Santa’s Sack”. Assuming it turns out OK, I’ll post the recipe here. I formulated the recipe by consulting the style charts in Papazian’s “The Complete Joy of Home Brewing”. I decided to do an old ale because I have been drinking a bit of the North Coast Brewery’s Old Stock Ale, which is similar in composition but with a MUCH higher alcohol level (about 14% – barleywine territory). I modified the recipe only slightly, adding an extra half ounce of bittering hops to counteract the spicy sweetness a bit and, of course, dumping in my spices.

I have never been so excited over a little foam.