Last holiday season I needed a festive beer to drink under the tannenbaum, so I moving away from any “Wassail” style of heavier bodied winter warmers with orange and clove flavors and going with a comforting favorite like oatmeal cookies which include some flavorings and spices such as: toasted oatmeal, raisins, cinnamon and vanilla.

– Toast the raw oats in the oven at 300ºF until it becomes golden brown and smells like cookies. (Takes around 1 hour)
– Use a mesh bag (aka Brew-in-a-Bag) for grist and oatmeal in the mash.
– 90 min. add Northern Brewer hops
– 15 min. add Irish moss
– 5 min. add East Kent Goldings hops
– Post boil add Raisins

Add to secondary Vanilla and cinnamon

I made homemade Dark Brown sugar made by mixing the proportions of 1 cup of cane sugar to 2 tbsp of molasses. The recipe calls for 10 oz. of dark brown sugar which is almost 2 cups loosely packed and I added 4 tbsp. of molasses plus an extra tablespoon to make it dark brown sugar.
Add raisins at the end of the boil to plump them up.
Lightly carbonated using 30.42 g. of Candi sugar at 64ºF to produce 2.0 vol of CO2

The aroma is toasty, vanilla, cinnamon and there is a big bubbled light tan head; the flavor is malty sweet, raisiny, "bourbony"; full bodied, unctuous mouthfeel; light but refreshing carbonation.