It's the most wonderful time ... for a beer!

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear!"

-Buddy the Elf

Buddy, you're really onto something here. Christmas cheer... presents... chocolate pancakes... and family! 

Well if he spent enough time with either of our families, he would quickly know the most enjoyable way to spend time with them... With a beer! 

But really now... it helps. 

In lieu of the season, we decided to make a Christmas Ale. Since the previous weekend had been National Learn How to Brew Day, we invited a coworker over to learn how to brew. This event, as usual, escalated from a two person team, to a four person team, to a brewing night with about twelve people. Everyone got to taste the Belgian Missile Crisis and it was a huge hit!

We brewed up the Christmas Ale without a hitch. It is a California Common spiced with ginger, cloves, cinnamon, orange zest, and honey, YUM!

This brew could even knock the big man on his back side.

During the fermentation process, we noticed that this beer was far less active than others that we had. Of course, we didn't want it to explode in the closet, but a bit of bubbling would have been nice. We worried because it was our first time using dry yeast, we had done something wrong. We visited Keith at LA Homebrew and he recommended we wait. At the end of two weeks, we took the gravity reading, and the beer measured at a whopping 9.0% alcohol by volume!

That's when it earned it's name... Wreck the Halls

We are headed to the Rockies for Christmas, so we will see what the family thinks! After Christmas Taylor and I will be revealing the new name of our blog and brewery concept, so watch out for that. Have a wonderful and safe Christmas!