Superior Christmas Ale All Grain Recipe Kit

$62.99
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Product details

Superior Christmas Ale - Great Lakes Christmas Ale Clone

‘Tis the season for spiced holiday beers! Our Superior Christmas Ale beer recipe kit is a classic take on the style. Modeled after the quintessential Great Lakes Christmas Ale, it features ginger, cinnamon, and honey to create a malty beer with a warm spice foundation that finishes with a fairly dry ginger-heat snap. Superior Christmas Ale is a brilliantly red ale with layers of spice. Perfect for fireside sipping, festive holiday parties, or bringing winter comfort any time of year.

Watch our Superior Christmas Ale full brew day video and Pints with Pros interview with Great Lakes Brewing Company head brewer Mark Hunger for additional information on and tips for brewing this unique style of beer.

Brewing Notes:

  • Style: Winter Seasonal Beer
  • Fermentation Range: 60-72°F
  • Original Gravity: 1.074
  • SRM: 12
  • IBU: 25
  • ABV: 7.6%

Tasting Notes:

  • Aroma: Sweet malt notes with a hint of earthy hops. Moderate aromas of balanced cinnamon and ginger.
  • Appearance: Red in appearance with mahogany and ruby hues. Khaki foam head upon pouring, but dissipates quickly.
  • Flavor: Moderate sweet malt quality with low to medium bitterness subsiding to gentle flavors of ginger and cinnamon.
  • Mouthfeel: Medium body with smooth mouthfeel and a lingering finish.

 

Looking for the Extract Version?

Additional information

SKU

B11913 - Unmilled
B11914 - Crushed

Beer Color Amber
Original Gravity

1.074

Total Time to Make 6 weeks
Regional Style USA
Alcohol Content Medium
Yield 5 Gallons
Beer Style Fruit or Spice Beer
Fermentation Type Ale
Beer Recipe Kit Instructions Click here for recipe kit instructions
Related Articles

Superior Christmas Ale Variants: Make Your Spiced Holiday Ale Even More Festive! We team up with Great Lakes Brewing Company and come up with three new variants. We've collected all the extra ingredients here in one easy-to-find place! Whether you're looking to kick up the abv, add intoxicating flavors and aromas of maple syrup, bourbon, and oak, or just want to spice up the holidays we have a version that will make for even more holly and jolly imbibing.

Notes from Brad, Northern Brewer Head Brewer:

“Taking inspiration from a seasonal beer brewed near Lake Erie, I have had the pleasure to brew Superior Christmas Ale (get it? Superior is a great lake…) Additions of cinnamon sticks and ginger root paired with a dose of honey gives this beer its signature flavor. It starts out as a delicious Amber Ale and the additions of spices and honey turn it into a different beast altogether. This smooth, albeit strong ale is the makings of a fantastic evening around the firepit or just sipping with a delicious home-prepared hearty meal. Or, you could just sip on this one year-round as it is not overly spiced, and still serves as a great sipper month after month.

For brewing notes, I was a little suspicious about boiling the ginger and cinnamon for the entirety of the boil, but man, it worked. I was initially a bit anxious about how it would turn out and was worried that boiling for that long would extract unpleasant qualities out of the spices. Nope. All of that fear was merely an exercise of futility. Once the boil has concluded, gently stir in the honey and proceed as normal. The honey will provide gentle flavors to compliment the beer, and will also serve to raise the original gravity as well and help the beer to attenuate a bit more than it would without the fermentable bee-provided addition. I hope everyone has a Superior holiday season!”

 

Customer Reviews

Based on 25 reviews
80%
(20)
16%
(4)
4%
(1)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
D
David B.

Beer tastes great!

M
Matt
Excellent beer.

Better than the original. Was very happy with this kit! Lots of compliments from family and friends.

A
Archi-Dave
Excellent recipe kit!

Very warm and cozy recipe that really works with the holidays. Made the extract version before and the all-grain was even better. I squirreled away a 6-pack from the extract version I made and had it in the fall. Got better with age, so will be doing that again with this current batch. Got another kit on hand to make a ‘Christmas In July’ batch. Quite possibly my favorite recipe kit from NB. This current batch I added a can of the Oregon Tart Cherry Purée, along with 8 oz. of Rye I had soaking with 6 vanilla beans and 8 oz. of neutral vodka I had some smoked oak chunks soaking in. these extra ingredients really added a nice twist on the original recipe.

j
j.b.

Great stuff

B
Ben M.
Truly Superior

First time making this kit and it didn't disappoint. Although I was disappointed it didn't ship with any cinnamon. So I used some I had lying around and it wasn't enough - came out a little too ginger forward. However, I had an extra cinnamon stick from the Grandma's Secret Stash brew and I threw that in there (in a special keg lid I have that has a tea strainer attached for dry hop additions) and that did the trick. What's crazy too is I somehow ended up with a 9% brew (really efficient mash and fermentation I guess) and yet it doesn't taste overly boozy. Great "spiced" ale for the holidays, excited to see what family thinks of it when they try it in late December.

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Superior Christmas Ale All Grain Recipe Kit

Superior Christmas Ale All Grain Recipe Kit

Customer Reviews

Based on 25 reviews
80%
(20)
16%
(4)
4%
(1)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
D
David B.

Beer tastes great!

M
Matt
Excellent beer.

Better than the original. Was very happy with this kit! Lots of compliments from family and friends.

A
Archi-Dave
Excellent recipe kit!

Very warm and cozy recipe that really works with the holidays. Made the extract version before and the all-grain was even better. I squirreled away a 6-pack from the extract version I made and had it in the fall. Got better with age, so will be doing that again with this current batch. Got another kit on hand to make a ‘Christmas In July’ batch. Quite possibly my favorite recipe kit from NB. This current batch I added a can of the Oregon Tart Cherry Purée, along with 8 oz. of Rye I had soaking with 6 vanilla beans and 8 oz. of neutral vodka I had some smoked oak chunks soaking in. these extra ingredients really added a nice twist on the original recipe.

j
j.b.

Great stuff

B
Ben M.
Truly Superior

First time making this kit and it didn't disappoint. Although I was disappointed it didn't ship with any cinnamon. So I used some I had lying around and it wasn't enough - came out a little too ginger forward. However, I had an extra cinnamon stick from the Grandma's Secret Stash brew and I threw that in there (in a special keg lid I have that has a tea strainer attached for dry hop additions) and that did the trick. What's crazy too is I somehow ended up with a 9% brew (really efficient mash and fermentation I guess) and yet it doesn't taste overly boozy. Great "spiced" ale for the holidays, excited to see what family thinks of it when they try it in late December.