Fruit mince pie beer

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I'm not sure if this has ever been attempted. I'm a big fan of fruit mince pies, they're my weakness. So I have this idea of brewing a "fruit mince pie beer" for Christmas. I imagine it being a beer on the sweeter end of the spectrum with some sweet dark fruity flavours, some hints of spice, some biscuity notes (the pastry) and a warming alcohol finish.

I've never brewed dark or high alcohol beer before. Where do I start?

 

[Lecterfan]

Investigate Belgian dark ales would be my suggestion for a starting point.

 

[manticle]

Yeah belgian quad/dark strong.
Got a great recipe I can hunt up but 1-2 years ageing is integral.

 

[technobabble66]

^^ well, he didn't specify which christmas ....

+1 for belgian dark strong (maybe try a Chimay Blue to see what the style may bring).
Otherwise a (heavily) tweaked english Old Ale might be another angle to get you there (maybe try a Theakston's Old Peculier).
2c

 

[klangers]

Belgian dubbels can be ready in a few months, so if you brew now she'll be ready for chrissie.

Whatever you do, if you're after dark fruit flavours, Belgian special B malt is your friend.

 

[TimT]

I love the fruit mince pie too

I'd imagine a beer would work fairly well as most of the classic fruit mince pie constituents - sultanas, raisins, currants, peel, nuts, cinnamon, nutmeg - either have flavours that complement a beer well or tend to show up in beer flavour profiles anyway (lots of malts are described as having a 'raisiny' sweetness).

You can get lots of fruity flavours from a malt; peel and spices can be added in secondary. I'd go with something like that.

 

[Matplat]

This is the beer you are trying to clone:

http://www.sintbernardus.be/stbernarduschristmasale.php?l=en

I had one of these last christmas, and has to be one of the best beers I've ever had, the complexity of the flavour was out of this world. If you can get one to give you a target, you should.

 

[TimT]

Yeah I had a Christmas Cake or Christmas Pudding Ale two years ago. I can't remember the brewer. It was a dark fairly strong ale with what was described as 'fruity' and 'raisin' flavours. I can't say I liked it much; it had an odd taste that I think probably came from some kind of a souring/bacterial process in the fermentation (presumably deliberate). I guess this was the idea of the brew; to get some fruity sweetness from the malt and to funk it up a bit with something - pediococcus maybe?

 

[TimT]

Cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger go beautifully in beers. I'd be tempted to base a Christmas pud ale around those spices. Pretty simple, you just chuck them in during the secondary ferment and leave them for as long as you need.

 

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Thanks all, I'll look into it and probably just give something a crack.

 

[fletcher]

if you're going the english route, i'd consider bramling cross or even galena as potential hops.