Brewery Website: http://www.cigarcitybrewing.com
Type of Beer: Brown Ale
Alcohol Content: 5.5%
Beer Review -
Appearance: Poured a dark brown with ruby highlights and great clarity. Head is tan and fluffy with about two-three fingers of height. The head stuck around a lot longer than expected settling to a sticky film leaving behind beautiful lacing.
Smell: The smell….well by looking at the bottle one would expect to smell fresh baked oatmeal raisin cookies…and one would not be let down. Raisins dominate the smell coupled with a nice malty sweetness that plays well against the other spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and whatever else makes up that delicious cookie goodness. This is one beer that begs to be drank.
Initial Taste: Taste is quite unique. Flavor starts out just like the smell with a predominance of raisins. This raisin, dark fruit flavor gives way to all those delicious spices: cinnamon, nutmeg and my favorite – vanilla. The brown ale this beer is based on throws some nice bittersweet chocolate into the mix. While this is certainly a sweet beer there is just enough bitterness to cut through the cookie and remind you that you are drinking a really (really) good brown ale. The finish is dry and a the flavor of raisins lingers a bit.
Thoughts: Cigar City Brewing Company is located only a couple hours north of me in Tampa Florida. They are celebrated for their brown ales. Believe it or not out of the top 10 brown ales on RateBeer 5 of them are from Cigar City Brewing! So that should tell that these guys know their brown ales. This offering is no different. Take their great Maduro brown ale and add raisins and all the delicious spices that make up an oatmeal cookie…now how could that be bad? This beer not only smells incredible it’s taste is just as equal. All the flavors you expect to find in an oatmeal cookie are present and accounted for. Underneath this liquid cookie goodness is a terrific brown ale that’s rated third in the world by RateBeer. The only downside to all this flavor and sweetness is the drinkability. When you add as much spice and flavor as this baked good beer has you really can only drink one or two before the flavor becomes overwhelming. But as a dessert beer there is little competition. I highly recommend (unless you hate oatmeal raisin cookies that is…but that’s downright un-American). Cheers!
Brewery Website: http://www.scuttlebuttbrewing.com/
Type of Beer: Imperial Dunkelweiss
Alcohol Content: 7.4%
Beer Review -
Appearance: This dunkelweiss style beer pours a dark brown, rich copper color. Head was ok with one-finger, off-white appearance that didn’t stick around long leaving behind almost no lacing.
Smell: Very interesting smell with this one. It starts off with a molasses sweet, roasted maltiness that really amps up the coffee and chocolate in the nose. There is also a small amount of citrus/fruity hop essence that tries to find it’s way through but it ends up getting lost in the thick toasted sweetness from the malt.
Initial Taste: Like the smell would suggest the flavor is predominantly sweet. Big flavors up front with molasses, chocolate and caramel being easy to spot out of the gate. Flavor rounds off with an earthy hoppy bitterness that really helps cut through the bold sweetness of the malts. There is also a nice biscuity flavor that blends very well with the hops helping to give it a dryer finish that clears the palate readying you for that next sip. Aftertaste is subtly sweet with hints of those earthy hops.
Thoughts: Overall I am very pleased with this offering from Scuttlebutt Brewing Company. It’s certainly a malty beer but being an Imperial Dunkleweiss that is expected. With it’s strong chocolate, dark fruit, and coffee flavors (not to mention its 7.4% alcohol content!) it’s no question this is a great choice for those cold winter nights when a strong beer is exactly what one needs to keep warm. Thankfully the beerologists at Scuttlebutt know what they are doing and have balanced this malty beast with just enough hops to make it deceptively drinkable. If you like sweet beers I recommend.
Brewery Website: http://www.breckbrew.com/
Type of Beer: Winter Warmer
Alcohol Content: 7.4%
Beer Review -
Appearance: The beer pours a beautiful rich mahogany with great clarity. There was very little head (one-finger’s worth) even when poured with vigor. What head did appear was actually quite creamy and left decent lacing when swirled around the glass. Head settles to a film pretty quickly. If the head was a bit more pronounced and the retention better, this would be a picture perfect Christmas beer.
Smell: Toasted malt hits the nose first with hints of caramel and dark fruits following close behind. A nice pine-citrus hop scent cuts through the sweetness giving the smell of this Christmas beer a welcomed complexity. Finishes with some nice holiday spices (nutmeg, cloves and vanilla) and a bit of alcohol esters. Smell is somewhat subdued but still very inviting.
Initial Taste: The smell carries through into the flavor of this beer perfectly with big flavors of toasted malts, chocolate and caramel creating the sweet backbone for this holiday brew. The sweet flavors are balanced with hops that deliver some welcome citrus and piny bitterness. The finish is subtly sweet with flavors of dark cherries and coffee.
Thoughts: Breckenridge Brewery is no stranger to making unique and delicious beers like their Vanilla Porter and Agave Wheat so when it came time to check out their Christmas seasonal I knew I would be in for a treat and happily I was right. Their Christmas Ale is everything you would expect from a well crafted winter warmer: spicy, strong, sweet, malty backbone with a good hop presence. This holiday beer delivers right on par with good strong malt flavors and spicy hops and dark fruits with a high alcohol content to keep you warm on those chilly freezing winter nights. So a Merry Christmas to all and to all a good a beer!
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.
