Thanksgiving Ale – Brewing our First Seasonal
August 26, 2008So after Drew, Jeff, Ryan and I thought long and hard about how to make a very cool fall beer… we came up with the following.
Mayflower Thanksgiving Ale is a sort of “Wood-Aged” Old Ale/American Strong Ale that is fairly malty and earthy with subtle spiciness. We expect it to be around 6.5% abv. with 40 IBUs. Here is a list of some of the goodies we are using to make this very special release…
For malts we thought… let’s go a little NUTS!
Crisp Gleneagle Maris Otter – this stuff is incredible
Castle Special B – a roasted belgian malt that delivers a nutty character with some caramel
Simpson’s Crystal Rye Malt – Why the heck not?
Simpson’s Golden Naked Oats – We like the name.. and figured the roundness will lend itself nicely.
Weyermann Carafa III – We wanted about 16 SRM(color) without the burnt flavors.. this should work fine.
Flaked Barley for some nice head retention and creamy mouthfeel.
We are also using a few different sugars for fermentables
For hops… going classic with East Kent Goldings at about 40 IBUs
The yeast… Well now something has to be secret doesn’t it?
As far as the Wood… we chose to work with The Barrel Mill and use American Oak Spirals with a light toast.
The brewday is set for September 2nd…. we will post more after we get to taste it.
More Later,
Matthew