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HOP LINE: Winter Beers

By Evan Crouch

An Expression of Holiday Cheer
The holidays are upon us once again. For many, this time of year brings back fond memories of time spent with loved ones, family traditions and good food, drink and cheer. Outdoors, the racket of leaf blowers and scent of firewood seem to be fixtures on a cool late-fall day. As the season changes, beer brewers are shifting their focus to capture the spirit of this special time of year. Winter beers serve to evoke memories of the holiday time while warming our bodies and souls in preparation for the cold months ahead.

Just as every family has its own holiday traditions, brewers from different regions of the world add their own distinct flair to holiday beers. To help get us through the holiday and enhance our experiences, here are a few beer styles from various brewing traditions to look out for this season.

German winter lagers
German brewers are master craftspeople when it comes to lagers. Lagers are beers that are fermented at cooler temperatures, thus ensuring a mellowed, smoother finish. The cooler months require a lager with a bit more heft, however, and a bock satisfies this need. A bock is essentially a strong, dark lager, and the doppelbock variant is one of roughly double strength, both in flavor intensity and alcohol content. Expect deep, rich caramel malt flavors from a bock, with a bit of toasty and sometimes even chocolate or smoky notes. Bocks are full-bodied and not typically bitter to taste. Ayinger Celebrator and Augustiner-Bräu Maximator are prime Bavarian examples of the doppelbock style.

Belgian winter ales
In contrast to the German winter lagers, Belgian brewers tend to make warm-fermented ales that focus on the estery character imparted by brewing yeast. Many Belgian ales are spontaneously fermented, meaning the brewing yeast is derived from setting out unfermented beer and allowing naturally occurring yeast strains in the ambient environment to alight on the brew and begin consuming the fermentable sugars. To put it another way, Belgian brews are all about letting yeasts work their magic. It may sound chaotic, but that’s the point; some of the most complex Belgian beers are unpredictable and have variances from batch to batch. Winter Belgians are also sometimes brewed with beet sugars to enhance flavor, color and alcohol strength. Expect dessert-like flavors from a Belgian winter ale. Best served in a wide-mouthed glass, these beers give off both aromas and flavors of nutmeg, clove, anise and cinnamon with a malt core that suggests dark fruit and brown sugar. Delirium Noël and St. Bernardus Christmas are very good examples of the style.

English winter ales
English brewers have their own versions of winter ales. Less reliant on yeast character, English winter ales tend to focus more on a complex blend of both toasted and roasted malts. The difference between “toasted” and “roasted” simply comes from the duration of time the barley is kilned. It’s analogous to coffee – the longer you cook the bean (or in the case of beer, grain), the darker it gets. Toasted malts provide burnt brown sugar flavors, while roasted malts impart coffee, chicory and chocolate notes to beer. English brewers also may put actual spices – cinnamon, nutmeg and the like – into beers instead of relying on the yeast to provide those flavors. As a result, English winter ales can be quite robust, even to the point of cloying if too much spice is used. Expect the flavors described above in a good English winter ale, with a healthy dose of earthy Fuggles or Kent Goldings hop varietals for a moderately bitter finish. Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome and Fuller’s Old Winter Ale are great places to start if you’re inclined to try a true English winter ale.

American winter brews
Despite having a much younger brewing tradition in relative terms, American brewers seek to build on the various European models and then some. A general rule of thumb is that American interpretations of beer styles tend to be more intense in flavor and concept. Winter styles are no exception – this is an area where American brewers really push the envelope. American craft brewers have introduced adjuncts such as coffee, chocolate, vanilla and pumpkin into traditional styles to accentuate flavors that historically were derived from malts and yeasts alone. American brewers also love their hops. The American hop-growing regions in the Pacific Northwest tend to produce varietals with citrusy, piney and resinous notes that typify styles like India Pale Ale. American brewers will often marry these hoppy qualities with strong malty notes found in winter ales. Great Divide’s Hibernation Ale is a seasonal that is an interesting and distinctly American take on an English Old Ale. A perfect example of the American-hops-meets-European-maltiness combination is Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale. If a coffee beer piques your interest, try to track down a Founder’s Breakfast Stout.

Whatever the origin of the winter beer, these styles should help keep up the yuletide spirit until next spring’s thaw.

The following is a recipe that might help pull out some of the flavors in these winter beers:

Spiced Apple
and Raisin Crumble

(adapted from W.I.G. Cookbook)

Ingredients
2 pounds Bramley apples, peeled, cored and sliced
3 ounces raisins
1 ounce soft brown sugar
1 level teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons water
8 ounces plain or whole wheat flour
3 ounces butter at room temperature
3-4 ounces soft brown sugar, to taste

Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the flour in a large mixing bowl, add the butter and rub it into the flour lightly with your fingertips. When the fat has been dispersed fairly evenly, add the sugar and combine that with the rest.

Place the apples, raisins, sugar and spices in a saucepan, and sprinkle with the water, then cook gently until the apples are soft and fluffy. Spoon the mixture into a pie dish and sprinkle with the crumble topping. Use a fork to even it out, but don’t press it down. Cook for 30-40 minutes until the topping is tinged with brown.