My wife and I have a new addition to our family on the way.  Boy or girl we don’t know but I do know I want to brew a beer to celebrate.  This “baby beer” will be be a 12%-15% ABV english (low hop) barley wine.  The goal is a beer that will age very well.  A 5 gallon batch will leave me with 24+ 22oz bomber bottles.  The idea would be for my Wife and I to share a bottle on their birthday.  If it ages well enough we may even be able to share the last few bottles with them.

On a similar note I want to brew a batch of my Wife’s choice beer so it is ready after the little one has arrived.  Porter is one of her favorite styles.  The plan is to brew a American Porter (2015 BJCP Style 20A) on the low end of the style.  The first keg will be infused with some cold brew coffee from one of our local third wave coffee shops.

Simple Porter base:
18# Marris Otter Pale Malt
1.25# UK Crystal 60L Malt
1.25# UK Chocolate Malt
.75# Black Patent Malt
154° Mash Temp
US-05 Yeast

I will be using up some old hops from the freezer.  I have some hops that are great in an IPA that I am going to throw in this porter.  Depending on how it tastes after fermentation is complete I do have some Columbus and Cascade whole hops I could dry hop with.  This should add a dank and piney hop profile to the malty smokey porter.
.75oz@60min Warrior 18.7% AA
.5oz@30min Nugget 13.5% AA
.6oz@30min Columbus 15.5% AA
.75oz@0min Amarillo 8.8% AA
.5oz@0min Simcoe 12.7% AA

This all should net the following at 75% efficiency.

OG: 1.049
FG: 1.010
ABV: 5.22%
IBU: 41
SRM: 32