Feliz Navidad & Chai Spice Brown

Good New Year to all! I actually brewed these beers back a month or so ago, but didn't get a chance to post about it. The Feliz Navidad is a beer that I brewed last year for Christmas. It is a pretty standard stout base with added cocoa powder added at flameout that then gets dry spiced with vanilla bean, cinnamon, chile peppers. The beer was  huge hit last year at my Christmas party. My friend who works at a local brewery tried to pitch this idea to them for their holiday beer, but they wanted something that could age a little bit longer (they are doing a 12 years of Christmas beer), maybe in the later iterations? I decided to bump up the cocoa powder by an ounce this year, but other than that I didn't really change anything.


Recipe: 2-Row, Red Wheat, Chocolate Malt, Crystal 40, Crystal 80, Roasted Barley, Cocoa Powder, Goldings @60, US-05, Cinnamon Stick, Vanilla Bean, Dried Ancho Chilies.

The other beer I brewed for the work holiday party was a twist off a brown mild that I brewed earlier in the month. I wanted a spiced winter ale, but often find the spices use din these winter warmers to be a little harsh. Instead I tea bagged my beer with 6 Mate Chai tea bags. I left them in the keg for a week and this beer was a huge success. I personally would want a more sweet and malty base beer than what I had. Overall, I was very happy with this beer and think it is a great beer for fall and early winter.

I have this week off, so I will b e doing some brewhouse cleaning (very much needed!) and brewing a couple of beers. I will be rebreeding the first beer that I ever created the recipe for, a Strong Scotch Ale called Wee Obese, a Mild (I was at Magnolia in San Fransisco and became inspired), and possibly another stout, lager or hop forward beer.