Christmas vs X-Mas Ales

Sunday, I posted SheppyBrew vs Breckenridge Autumn Ales where I compared Breckenridge Autumn Ale with my Will-o'-Wisp Autumn Ale (no pumpkin).

Of course, I also have my X-Mas Ale 2024 on tap, and it just so happens that I also have some bottles of Breckenridge Christmas Ale.

Breckenridge Christmas Ale actually inspired my traditional base beer recipe of my X-Mas Ales.

"The chill of winter calls for a beer with extra flavor and strength! An abundance of carefully roasted malts create notes of caramel and chocolate, while Chinook and Mt. Hood hops contribute a spicy quality for balance and a clean finish."

2024 Thanksgiving Turkey

Since 2018, which was the year I started becoming obsessed with BBQ, I've been in charge of smoking the Thanksgiving turkey outside.

It's fun for me, and it frees up the oven for the various sides my wife generally makes.

And, I think smoked turkey tastes better than it would if we cooked it in the oven.

Over the years, I've tried different ways to cook the turkey, and this year I actually tried something new.

Last year, I spatchcocked, and halved the bird, which is how I generally cook my whole chickens now.

This year, I came across a youtube video where the author "quartered" the bird. I decided to do the same thing on my cook this year.

 

2023 Thanksgiving Turkey

If you've been following along on my blog, you already knew that ...

1) I was going to smoke a turkey for Thanksgiving. 

2) I was planning on Spatchcocking and halving it on my weber kettle. 

3) I was going to use Crack as my spicing.

This past Thursday was Thanksgiving, and I did indeed smoke a spatchcocked turkey on my Weber kettle and spiced it with Crack.

Since 2018, which was the year I started becoming obsessed with BBQ, I've been in charge of making the Thanksgiving turkey outside on my smoker.

Chicken Crack

You might remember in Humdinger of a Brisket, that I went down a little rabbit hole that included hitting my 2020 Thanksgiving Turkey post.

I had used Crack Seasoning on that Turkey, and I remember liking it quite a bit.

I decided to track some down and grabbed some for this year's Thanksgiving Turkey.

As I was ordering the spice, I saw they now have "Spicy Crack Seasoning", and I picked some of that up along with the "Original Crack Seasoning".

I had to try it out, and I had planned to cook a chicken, so I used the Spicy Crack Seasoning on my chicken last Sunday.

Humdinger of a Brisket

Soooo ... As I am typing this post, I just went through a weird rabbit trail to realize I had not posted my latest Brisket cook ...

I just picked up "Crack" because I remembered that I really enjoyed it on my 2020 Thanksgiving Turkey.

As I was looking through Turkey posts on this blog, I started looking through Smoked posts.

At some point ... I started looking through Brisket posts, and saw that my last one was my Easter Brisket from earlier this year.

I thought that was weird ... because I knew I had cooked a brisket much more recently than that. 

In fact, I cooked one just on the 29th, which as I type this, was Sunday of last week.

I cooked one on my Humdinger of a Hootenanny (Batch 345) brew day. I'm absolutely sure I intended to blog about it. But, I have not. Yet. Until now.

2020 Thanksgiving Turkey

I smoked my third turkey last Thursday (Thanksgiving).

I'm pretty comfortable doing it now, although since I only smoke a turkey once a year, it still makes me a little nervous that I'll screw it up.

I didn't screw it up. I am pretty sure this was my best one so far.

Last year, I spatchcocked the turkey. I didn't like it as much as the previous year, so I went back to smoking the whole bird without cutting out the backbone.

Just like both my previous turkeys, I brined the bird around 24 hours before cooking it.

It was a simple brine this year.

• One gallon of SheppyBrew beer
• 1 gallon water
• 3/4 cup salt
• 1/4 cup garlic salt

The brine went into a large plastic bag which I put into a bucket. Over the bag, I put a bunch of ice. I stored that in the garage overnight. 

It was cold enough here in the Denver area to keep the bird cold. There was still ice on top in the morning.