Brewery Website: http://www.rogue.com
Type of Beer: Red Ale
Alcohol Content:6.0%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Very attractive beer with a burnt amber color and bright copper highlights. Has a hazy clarity with a generous amount of off-white head. The fluffy two-finger head slowly faded into iceberg-like clumps with a sticky ring of lace that lasted the entire beer.
Smell: There is no mistaking what this beer once you smell it. The initial scents are unmistakably dark fruits and molasses. While there is a faint hoppiness it is overpowered by the sweet spices. Overall a very sweet but nice smelling beer.
Initial Taste: From the smell one would assume this would be a very malt-heavy beer and lacking on the hops but one would be wrong. The flavors found in the smell are also very present in the taste with sweet bready malts hitting the tongue first followed by those dark candied fruits like figs and prunes. Then the hops come into play with a commanding citric-pine spiciness. For the remainder of the beer the flavor passes from brown-sugar sweet to citrus-zest bitter while the hops and malt fight for dominance. The finish is both dry and slightly sweet leaving your taste-buds ready for the next drink.
Thoughts: Santa’s Private Reserve Ale is Rogue Brewery’s winter offering. Unlike most winter seasonals this is not a winter warmer. Instead Rogue took their Dry Hopped Saint Rogue red and varied the recipe adding double the hops to make this a hopfilled warming winter red ale. Since this is at it’s core a red ale, the flavor is dominantly sweet with molasses and bready malts. However there is a fair amount of hops in the equation to help tame the sweetness enough to make this beer a wonderful session ale. The bitterness from the Chinook, Centennial, and a mystery hop called Rudolph make this an enjoyable beer for both sweet tooths and hop heads alike. But don’t take my word for it, go try this winter red ale for yourself. Just make sure to let us know what you think! Cheers.
Forgot to mention, the label on the 650ml glows in the dark…pretty cool.
Brewery Website: http://www.anchorbrewing.com/
Type of Beer: Bock
Alcohol Content: 5.5%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Poured a very murky brown with chestnut highlights. Much darker than what I was expecting. The two-finger, billowy, off-white head stuck around quite a while before finally fizzling down to a thin ring of lace that sat on top of the beer. This is one really good looking beer.
Smell: The smell was sweet as expected but surprising complex. Notes of toasted malts, dark fruit, molasses and brown sugar come through first then give way to a nice citrus hop resin with a touch of smokiness. This is one of the best smelling bocks I’ve come across to date. Fantastic.
Initial Taste: Since the smell of this bock was so unique and complex one would assume those qualities would carry into the taste. And one would be correct, to a point. The sweet flavors we noticed in the smell are very prevalent in the initial taste; caramel, dark fruits (plums, figs and raisins), chocolate and burnt sugar. The mouthfeel was smooth and a bit slick but the high carbonation made it feel a little too thin. Sadly that nice hoppy citrus resin we found in the smell never really made it’s way into flavor. The finish does have a slight citric yet smokey bitterness but it’s not really a match for the sweet ingredients.
Thoughts: This was quite an interesting review as site and smell aspects of this review were some of the best I’ve done, yet the flavor didn’t match up. Anchor is no slouch when it comes to making some incredibly flavorful beer, however I think more of a balance could be struck with this Bock style beer. Like their Christmas Ale (2011) they have really amped up the sweet and smokey flavors but unlike their Christmas Ale the citrus bitterness was only their in spirit and not really strong enough to make a difference in the balance. I”ll admit I’m not a big fan of big malty beers like bocks but I think there are other beers in this style that have found a way to balance the scales slightly better. That being said it really isn’t a bad beer. It’s got some terrific sweet characteristics that will please the strongest of sweet toothed beer drinkers. So if you fall into that category then I highly recommend. BUT this bock is only available between Jan and May so you’d better hurry! Cheers
Brewery Website: http://redhook.com/
Type of Beer: Nut Brown Ale
Alcohol Content: 5.8%
Beer Review -
Appearance: This nut brown ale poured a bright copper color with perfect clarity. Head was about one finger and dissipated to a thin film rather quickly leaving behind only a trace of lacing.
Smell: The first thing that comes through when smelling this beer is a sweet yet fresh graininess that is somewhat expected with a well made brown ale. That bright, sweet smell of grains and subtle grasses gives way to a nice hint of hops. There is also a bit of chocolate and caramel malt that come through at the end making this a complex and delicious smelling brew.
Initial Taste: A toffee sweetness hits the tongue first carrying with it a nice mix of grains and subtle chocolate malts. There is no doubt that this is first and foremost a malty beer with big sweet flavors of chocolate, toasted sugar, caramel and vanilla but there is just enough of an earthly hop bitterness to cut through the sweets and help balance things out. Mouthfeel is a little on the thin side due to some high carbonation. The finish is a bit dry with a lingering sweetness.
Thoughts: Mudslinger Spring Ale is a re-branding of their nut brown ale. I’m not sure why they rebranded it, I can only assume it’s to match their catchy seasonal naming convention (ie: Rope Swing, Late Harvest, etc). Either way it’s a great name for this sweet nutty ale. Being a nut brown the predominate flavors are going to be sweet and this doesn’t disappoint. This heavily malted beer has lots of chocolate, nutty, caramel and vanilla flavors to satisfy even the most discerning sweet tooth. Yet all is not lost for the hope heads among us. Certainly this is a sweet beer but Red Hook has added just enough hops to give this sweet ale an earthy, grassy bitterness that not only does a great job at balancing the beer but really tastes like springtime. The only downside I found was the thin mouthfeel. The carbonation was quite high so it gave a thin and somewhat watery feel. Your millage may vary so make sure you check this beer out for yourself. Overall I’m happy with the beer and could easily drink a few on a nice spring day. Cheers!
Brewery Website: http://www.bluemoonbrewingcompany.com/
Type of Beer: Dubbel
Alcohol Content: 5.6%
Beer Review -
Appearance: This Abby ale pours a crystal clear amber with a handsome off-white, two-finger, creamy head. Sadly this good looking head didn’t stick around very long and neither did it’s lacing. The head fizzled down to a film leaving behind barely any lacing.
Smell: The smell is actually quite nice. There are the some dark sugar and toasted malt scents that really try their best to push through but they end up being watery and light. There is some grain and husk smell that comes across as grainy and bread-like. Overall is a very sweet smelling beer with a subtle whiff of phenol alchohol that comes through at the end.
Initial Taste: Candied sugar and sweet, toasted malts make up a predominant amount of the flavor. While it’s very sweet it’s still a very thin, watered down flavor. There is some bready-malts that come through on the end but it’s just not give this beer any sort of body. There is pretty much zero hop bitterness or taste. Which is would have really helped cut through the heavy sweetness of this beer. The finish is muddy and malty with a hint of alcohol.
Thoughts: Before I started drinking craft beer I always looked forward to Blue Moon’s winter selection (previously known as Full Moon). It’s a great beer for people who are just starting to get acquainted with flavorful beers. However when someone who has had a real Belgian Dubbel will quickly put this beer aside as a watered down macro version of a great beer style. Which of course, being made by Coors, is not surprising. There are traits of a Belgian Dubbel but it’s just much too thin and flat to really compete. I recommend this to new beer drinkers who haven’t become accustomed to craft beer or Belgian style ales. Everyone else – save your money and time and stick with the real thing. Cheers.
Brewery Website: http://www.averybrewing.com/
Type of Beer: Winter Warmer
Alcohol Content: 8.3%
Beer Review -
Appearance: This holiday beer pours a deep, rich mahogany color with good clarity. Has an off-white, creamy, one-finger head that didn’t stick around too long leaving behind decent lacing.
Smell: The smell is soft and sweet. Hazelnuts are easy to pick out as are the dark fruits and roasted malts. There isn’t much in the way of spices or hops. There is however a subtle alcohol smell most likely due to the high abv.
Initial Taste: Unlike the smell the flavor is in no way subtle. Big sweetness from the hazelnuts, figs and caramelized sugar making a delicious initial flavor. Followed by porter-like roasted malts and bittersweet chocolate. There is a small yet earthy hop presence that helps to cut through the sweetness and round things out with a needed bitterness.
Thoughts: Avery is a known champion when it comes to developing full-flavored rich beers and their Old Jubilation is no slouch. With it’s big malt profile this Winter Warmer certainly tips the scales on the sweet side of things with flavors of hazelnuts, caramelized sugar, chocolate and roasted malts. This brew actually drinks more like a porter than a winter ale. There is a nice hop bitterness that helps to balance things out on the finish of this bold beer. As far as winter warmers go this is a very good representation of the style, especially with that high 8.3% abv!. If your a fan of the style I highly recommend Old Jubilation. Happy Holidays.
