Winter Warmer

Over the weekend our Winter Warmer was finally brewed. It is a strong ale that should have an alcohol content of around 8.5%. The addition of 1 pound each of dark brown sugar and clover honey will impart a sweet flavor to the beer and keep the alcohol content up. Dried sweet orange peel was added during the boil as our first spice addition for this beer. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove will be added once the beer is racked to secondary. Becuase of the high gravity of this beer, it will take much longer to finish. It will sit in primary for the normal 1-2 weeks, but will then settle in secondary for 2-3 months. Because of the high alcohol content, it takes much longer for the beer to mellow out and lose some of those harsh "hot" alcohol flavors. We did sneak a taste of the beer before it went into primary and it was very sweet. The brown sugar flavor was very noticeable, but should mellow in the finished beer. As of now, we are very hopefull that this will be a great beer to have during those cold winter nights.

love and hoppyness