The coming of the holiday C-Son

Although the sun may be out today, the fact remains that summer has come and gone and the slow march towards winter has begun. With Halloween still two weeks away I've already seen Christmas displays pop up around town and along with them, the requisite holiday seasonals from various local breweries. We all recognize that season creep is becoming absurd, but at the same time is the arrival of all these winter beers a bad thing?

Loyal Lompoc followers may recognize that we find every excuse to brew "seasonal" beers throughout the year but that we really take it to extremes when it comes to the Holiday season, releasing 7 Holiday seasonals on the same day. In order to pull off such a feat, both breweries juggle the logistical challenges of maintaining our year round beers while finding the tank space to squeeze in the Holiday beers. Well this week the juggling act has begun at New Old Lompoc as I'm brewing both C-Sons Greetings and Holiday Cheer. As a special treat I've scaled down the Holiday Cheer recipe for all-grain homebrewers:

New Old Lompoc Holiday Cheer Vanilla Porter 5 gallons

10 lbs NW Pale Malt

1 lbs Crystal 120L

.75 lb Chocolate Malt

.5 lb Brown Malt

.5 lb Dextrin Malt

.25 Caraffa II

.25 Special B

60 min boil

.5 oz Chinook Pellets :0 min

1 oz Willamette Whole Leaf :40 min

1 oz Willamette Whole Leaf :60 min

American Ale yeast

Add 1-2 whole vanilla beans to secondary fermenter

I should also mention that we are not immune to the pressures of season creep, and as a result have decided to release C-Sons Greetings a few weeks earlier than the other Holiday beers this year. The C-Sons Greetings release party is set for November 11th at Sidebar. C-Sons will be available in bottles the same day and on tap at all our pubs as well as better beer bars around town.