Summer went by way too fast however, I had time to enjoy some great summer beers. During the summer, I usually enjoy great IPAs, Pale Ales and an occasional Cream Ale. Over the past few months I made several batches of my own IPA recipe, a couple of batches of a Mirror Pond clone and started perfecting a Vanilla Crème Ale. Now it is time to start focusing on Fall and Winter Beers. It is scary to think that Christmas will be here before we know it and home brewers always need to think ahead when it comes to seasonal beers.

I think that Fall beers need to have a slightly higher alcohol volume and in most cases heavier mouthfeel. However, I think that the big assumption that is made about home brew, or microbrews in general, is that they are “syrupy”. That is usually the assumption of those who are new to craft beers.

This is not always the case. I believe that higher alcohol volume is characteristic and serves well to keep us warm during the cool Autumn evenings. I also think that darker beers with the toasty notes just welcome the Holiday Season.

So what beers are coming soon to Holden A Home Brew? I have a few in mind (more to come in a future post). One that many of my friends have found enjoyable is Marie’s Beer.

I have a very good friend, Marie, who has a tremendous culinary talent. She makes almost everything from scratch and is not afraid to be adventurous in the kitchen. One day she approached me with the idea of creating a honey – almond – cranberry beer. Now, I am not a fan of many fruit beers, so I sat on this idea for awhile. I am partial to beers that obey the purity law (malt, hops, yeast and water – ONLY) however, I do not limit myself to those ingredients. I am a fan of extreme beers, as well. So after giving this some thought and after running into a copy of Sam Calagione’s ‘Extreme Brewing: An Enthusiast’s Guide to Brewing Craft Beer at Home’, I decided to take a stab at her request.

So how does Marie’s Beer differ from an ordinary “fruity” beer? Well, it has every bit of the normal malt bill of an all-grain beer for a ten gallon batch. Then seven pounds of dehydrated orange cranberry and five pounds of honey are added to the end of the boil. Almond extract is added at the end of the fermentation process. The end result is a very complex beer that is slightly dry, clear and yet has hints of cranberry flavor. You can think of this hybrid beer as being partly beer, partly wine and partly mead. This is a great transition beer going from summer to fall because it is very clear, has a light mouthfeel yet has great flavor complexity of holiday beers and has nearly a ten percent alcohol volume.

Anyway, I plan to start a batch of this in the next couple of weekends. I usually bottle this one since it ages very well and is more of a sipping beer that can be enjoyed throughout the winter and makes great stocking stuffers.