Festive cheer

A number of breweries release Christmas specials at this time of year. At worse they are rebadged versions of regular brews,* at best they are an entirely different beer or regular seasonal with a good Christmas kick. In between this are the regular beers that have been adapted to some extent, as with Brewdog' Christmas porter (see Reuben's blog for a review). But this post isn't about that. This post is about making your own Christmas cheer in beer form. This post is about mulled beer!

I got a home brew kit for my Birthday...Woodforde's Wherry. Its a nice enough beer but I'm certainly not able to get through 40pints by myself! I've decided to mull up a few litres of it. I've previously mulled cider and perry; so this is just a continuation on that theme. You need a fairly malty beer, hoppy and bitter beers become a bit unpleasant once heated up.

Per 1.5 litres

2xcinamon sticks

4 x black peppercorns

4xcloves

2xstar anise**

sliced root ginger (optional)
blade mace (optional)

sugar (to taste)

Pop it all into a pan (with a lid on or your booze will evaporate!) and bring to just below boiling. Keep simmering for a few minutes then switch off heat and allow to steep (usually the longer the better). Taste it to see if its spicy enough and adjust as necessary. You can add fruit to it if that's your bag. I prefer mine with a tot of whisky (blended stuff mind you, single malts is sacrilidge!)

Serve to the assembled throngs on its own or with nibbly bits and bask in the shared joy.

*See the Wetherspoon Christmas guest list...
** I had run out of star anise so used a pinch of fennel seed.