I’ve got a saison sitting on sweet cherries I picked in my garden and froze for a couple of weeks for something like three months now. The last sample I took was quite promising. It might only the wrong style for a Christmas beer as saison is typically drunk in summer, but other than that, it’s at least partially Belgian.
this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2025
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Homebrewing - Beer, Mead, Wine, Cider
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Christmas beer is magic, just go crazy and see where it gets you!
You are right, it is the time. I'll share what idea I'll try this year if I get to design something.
I always enjoy Mad Elf around Christmas. It's a dark ale with Belgian yeast, cherries, and honey.
I've never tried to brew it, but there are plenty of clone recipes around to use as a starting point.
What kind of cherries? Sweet or tart? generally you want tart cherries for beer, just because they have a lot more flavor per cherry. That said, you can still use sweet cherries, but the flavor won't be as pronounced.
I don't really have a recipe but some sort of Belgian style Christmas ale with cherries sounds good to me, something on the darker end of the spectrum, maybe similar to a dubbel or quad.
@MuteDog sweet ones, that's just what I have. I was asking more about the usage - where to put it in the process in fermenter, to the boil (as I found someone do it with concentrate)
but I'd do it on secondary
that's also fine, if you're using a secondary
definitely put them into the fermentor, you don't really want cooked cherry flavor in a beer, IMO
@plactagonic @homebrewing I did some research last year and looks like those Belgian krieks are actually stored in wine barrels for a year to infuse them with the cherry flavor. That was a bit too much for my means 😅
I would be very interested in alternative methods to get similar results as well.
@AndiPopp @homebrewing I know, few months ago I was in Belgium and visited brewery that makes lambics.
Tbh I really don't like this style I was thinking about some dubbel or some different strong style.
@plactagonic @homebrewing Ah ok, haven't seen many of those using cherries so I probably jumped to conclusions. I'm still interested in what your coming up with 😊
Lambics are very special style, with 6+ biological agents working simultaneously, none of those pure clones like brewers yeast. It's not even cherry centered really. And, judging by commercial beers quality, I'm afraid it's about to become lost art.