BeerBorg

Hey Brewmeisters one and All,
Got me a Mr. Beer Winter ale and a Diablo IPA. I have brewed other Mr. Beers straight up and modified(which are better),but never these two. I recall seeing other comments on THAT other forum about how you folks modified these kits and what your impressions of each were,straight up and modified. I would be in awe of you folks if you could give me some insight and advice before I open these beautys up.....TIA RandyG.

The Winter Ale I did straight up and though weak, it was pretty good.
The Diablo I've done twice. First straight up and all I tasted was bitter thru and thru. The next time, I added 3/4 lb of DME and simcoe and cascade hops at 20 minutes and flameout and added the same as a dry hop. It was much better.
The color and head on the Diablo was great and spot on. This one did benefit from 4 weeks in the bottle and then drink quickly as the aroma from the finishing hops won't last long.

Look up the recipe on Mr. Beers site for the Spiced Christmas Ale.

That will turn your winter dark into something delicious.

You can use dark DME instead of the "Robust". Use mulling spices with as much Orange as you can find. Or steep some chocolate malt and special B and use light DME.

You will be rewarded. It will be like one of those bitter orange dark chocolate smack "orange" candy. Except you can drink it.

I brewed the Diablo IPA Deluxe (HME plus pale LME) and like Beer-Lord tasted just the bitterness of the beer, no hop flavors or aromas. If I did this one again I'd definitely do a flavor boil and dry hop.