Brewery Website: http://www.smuttynose.com/
Type of Beer: Belgian Pale Ale
Alcohol Content: 5.8%
Beer Review -
Appearance: This beer poured a deep straw yellow with a hazy complexion. There wasnt much head, maybe one finger and settled pretty quickly leaving ok lacing.
Smell: The smell is light and enticing. It’s clean and yeasty with some citrus and alcohol esters. Enough malt is present to make this a sweet smelling beer.
Initial Taste: What a nice beer. Flavors of grain, bready yeast and fruit are the first to hit your tongue. A nice clean citrus follows the bready yeasts cleaning the palate for the sweet malts. Some spices are present but are so soft they blend into the other flavors. What a wonderfully balanced beer. Flavors are clear and flavorful.
Thoughts: I always enjoy supporting a beer from my hometown especially when its made by a brewery as talented as Smuttynose. While New Hampshire isnt known for great beer Smuttynose is one of the top rated craft beers out there. These guys continue to make incredibly tasty beers and Star Island Single is no slouch. This beer is a great balance of flavor and drinkability. It has just enough flavor and sweetness to keep your tongue happy but finishes dry and crisp to leave you wanting more. While this isn’t the greatest representation of the style (Belgian Pale Ale) I recommend this as a session beer.
http://www.smithwicks.ie
Brewery Website: www.smuttynose.com
Type of Beer: Belgian Abby Double
Alcohol Content: 4.8%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Pours a very deep dark mahogany with a thick, tan, two-finger head that receded quickly leaving good lacing.
Smell: I picked up on breads, dark fruits, some winter spices (cinnamon, allspice, cloves) with a brown sugar and gingerbread cookie finish. Scents were all pretty subtle but combined to make an extremely enticing beer.
Initial Taste: Nice. The initial taste doesn’t disappoint. There is a lot going on here. The smell would lead you to believe this might be a muted beer. Quite the contrary, this is a very flavorful ale. Lots of dark fruits (berries, raisins) followed up by brown sugar and sweet malts. Winter spices are also very apparent; cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and even some ginger. Finishes clean with a soft hoppy bite.
Thoughts: Smuttynose Winter Ale is a full-bodied, amber beer brewed with a special Trappist ale yeast. Making this beer more of a Belgian Abby Double than a winter warmer like you would expect. This is a nice change of pace from the other winter warmers and Christmas ales out there right now. Smuttynose made the right decision to break away from the usual and give us something unique. This beer is balanced very nicely between the sweetness of the malts and brown sugars and the winter spices and soft hops. Just like their fall seasonal (Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale) Smuttynose has done a very good job delivering a seasonal beer that anything but run-of-the-mill. Highly recommend.
