What is Everyones Favorite Winter Beer?
as i am standing over my steaming kettle of ginger brew wort, i am thinking to myself : "mmmm, ginger brew, this will be soooo good during the long cold winter days." then i realized, i hadnt listed it as a favorite winter beer! mainly because i usually associate it with a summer brew, but that is exactly the amazing thing about ginger : it will warm the blood when the outside temperature is cold, and cool the body when the outside temperature is hot! i make this every summer to share with people when we are doing heavy work out in the sun, it is super refreshing and stimulating. i usually save a few for the winter months, but this is the first time i am brewing a full batch (10 gallons) for the winter and i am so excited! how nice it will be to curl up with a warming ginger beer when the frost is decorating the windows!
therefore, i state it now - ginger beer is one of my very favorite winter beers.
Ginger is a strange beast - it has the ability to cut through some powerful flavors, is extremely strong (IMO), but also extremely soothing. A ginger brew does sound like a great beer for the winter!
This is the kind of effect I'm hoping for in my Oatmeal Stout brew. I'm really excited to taste what the ginger adds. Waiting is a pain. :-)
My favorite is the HBS Winter Warmer --Chris
http://www.thehomebrewstore.com/HBS008.htm
For several years in the mid-90s, Hoster Brewing Co. in Columbus made a beer called Eagle Dark for the holidays. It was great. Unfortunately, mismanagement force the brewery to close in 2001.
Moving to the present, I hate to be un-American, but you can't beat Samuel Smith's annual holiday offering.
I always gravitate toward the Belgian dark ales in the winter. Domestically, I love Ommegang Three Philosophers. From the Motherland ... nothing compares to a Westvleteren 12 (of course), St. Bernardus Abt 12, or a Gulden Draak. Delicious year-round, but particularly in the colder months.
I think I'd have to go with any Russian Imperial Stout. I'm preferential to Thirsty Dog's Siberian Night but I won't turn any away =-)
Bigfoot Barleywine is my favorite, especially on a cold day (not that we get too many of those in sunny Florida). I also brew my own Dark Red Lager, it is a wonderful recipe that is garnet red with a hickory aged aroma coupled with a serious infusion of noble Hallterau and Saaz hops. Rasputin Stout is another to note on my list and of course my wife's favorite, Lindeman's Framboise, you just can't go wrong any time of the year with a brew that drinks like champagne...
Tim
i almost stop drinking beer except an occasional beer with dinner during the winter. but i do love to get a good stout or a dark beer. something about the way they go down, they almost feel like a warm meal to me.
There's a local brewery here that makes "Isolation Ale", a classic winter warmer.