Holiday Beer!
Spiced Winter Ale
by the Boston Brewer Supply Co.
Taken from "The Brewmaster's Bible" by Stephen Snyder
Ingredients:
- 8 oz English crystal malt
- 2 oz Black patent malt
- 6 pounds light extract syrup
- 1 pound light DME
- 1 pound clover honey
- 2.5 oz Cascade hops pellets 4-7% AA(Seperate into 2 oz and 0.5 oz)
- 1 oz dried Ginger root, chopped
- 2 whole cinnamon sticks, broken-up
- 2 whole nutmeg, crushed
- 0.5 oz dried orange peel, chopped
- 1 tsp Irish moss
- 1 package Wyeast 1056; American Ale Yeast
The total boil time for this beer is 45 minutes.
Steep the crushed specialty grains in two gallons of water at 160 degrees F for 30 minutes. Remove grains and discard, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat, and add the extract (dried and liquid), and the honey. Heat to a boil again.
Once the wort is boiling, add the two oz. of Cascade hops and start a timer for 45 minutes. After 30 minutes, add all the spices, prepared as listed. Also add the Irish moss flakes at this time.
After 10 more minutes, add the final 0.5 oz of Cascade. Boil for five more minutes, then remove from heat.
Cool the wort and pitch the yeast as normal. Primary fermentation should take between 3 and 5 days. Prime with 6 oz of corn sugar when bottling. Store at room temperature (65-70 F) for a minimum of 3 weeks.
Original Gravity: 1.058 - 60
Final Gravity: 1.014 - 16
Alcohol Potential: 6% ABV
From the sounds of it, the longer this beer was given to mature the better (within reason, of course) I may just have to make this beer this year...I have been meaning to for a while now 
thank you so much for posting that. i was getting ready to plunk down a bunch of loot for a holiday beer kit i saw on the internet. this looks pretty much just like what i was going to buy (except fot the honey, which will be a new ingredient for me). now i can just take this recipe to my local homebrew supply store.
regarding honey: does it make the beer taste real sweet? how much of the sugars in honey are fermentable?
i wonder what it would do if i substituted dark LME for the honey? any thoughts?
Most of the sugars in honey are completely fermentable. It will sweeten the final beer, but not nearly as sweet as the honey itself tastes. Mostly you will be left with a general sweet taste, but not cloyingly so. I have used honey in many recipes and have enjoyed every one
As far as substitution goes, feel absolutely free! Just let us know how it goes 
i'll probably actually do it as it is because i've never used honey before so i want to know what kind of taste it gives a beer.
Be extremely careful with how much honey you use! When I make fruit beers, I always put in more than the recipe calls for. If the recipe says 4#, I use 6#. Well, I tried to copy Big Sky Summer Honey and used about 9# of honey in a 10 gallon batch.
HUGE MISTAKE! Tasted absolutely horrible. I basically made mead. I would say no more than 2# of honey in a 5 gallon batch for starters, and work up from there. So far, honey has been the first "fruit" I used where I could not double the recipe. I learned that lesson the hard way.
All in all, honey beers are pretty good! I've tried 3 and liked them all.
Here is mine.
Spiced Imperial Stout
Sweet Stout
Type: All Grain
Date: 8/14/2004
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Brewer: Fred Bonjour
Boil Size: 6.41 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (30 Qt) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 38.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 62.0
Taste Notes: Brewed Aug 14, Great in November, needed time but worth it. My 2004 Christmas beer
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
16 lbs Pale Ale Malt 2-Row (Briess) (3.5 SRM) Grain 79.0 %
1 lbs Roasted Barley (Briess) (300.0 SRM) Grain 4.9 %
12.0 oz Caramel Malt - 80L 6-Row (Briess) (80.0 SRM) Grain 3.7 %
12.0 oz Chocolate (Briess) (350.0 SRM) Grain 3.7 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2.5 %
4.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 1.2 %
2.00 oz Pearle [7.80%] (60 min) Hops 45.9 IBU
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
1.00 tsp Cloves (Boil 45.0 min) Misc
2.00 tsp Alspice (Boil 45.0 min) Misc
3.00 items Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 45.0 min) Misc
6.00 items Cinnamon Stick (Boil 45.0 min) Misc
6.00 oz Ginger Root (Boil 45.0 min) Misc
1 lbs Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 4.9 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Strong Ale (Wyeast Labs #1388) Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.093 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.093 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.022 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.008 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.4 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 11.2 %
Bitterness: 45.9 IBU Calories: 425 cal/pint
Est Color: 47.8 SRM Color: Color
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Infusion 153 Total Grain Weight: 19.25 lb
Sparge Water: 1.75 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash Add 28.88 qt of water at 166.5 F 153.0 F 40 min
Mash Notes:
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2) Volumes of CO2: 2.4
Pressure/Weight: 8.2 PSI Carbonation Used:
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 34.0 F Age for: 56.0 days
Storage Temperature: 34.0 F
Notes
A great Holiday beer, Spicing was noticable, but not overpowering
Fred
Bonjour :
That recipe looks complex - I Love It!
Please tell me, what is Special B Malt Grain?
9-11.2% is right where I like my beers to be!
This one is very high on my next to do list.
ASPEN,
How big a batch is your Spiced Winter Ale recipe? You only mention 2 gallons of water for the specialty grains. Nothing else mentioned about water after that.
That would be a total five-gallon batch. You should top the primary fermenter off upto the five gallon mark.