Winter Warmer
Garrison Brewing Company

Winter WarmerWinter Warmer
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From:
Garrison Brewing Company
 
Nova Scotia, Canada
Style:
Winter Warmer
ABV:
6.8%
Score:
86
Avg:
3.83 | pDev: 8.62%
Reviews:
44
Ratings:
64
Status:
Active
Rated:
Jul 20, 2021
Added:
Nov 09, 2008
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  3
This strong dark amber beer is brewed with spices evocative of the holiday season. Its warming character makes it a great accompaniment on cold winter nights.

20 IBU
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 4.07 by Electros from Canada (ON)

Jul 20, 2021
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Reviewed by biboergosum from Canada (AB)

3.88/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
650ml bottle - nice to see a brew show up around here from this East Coast operation that isn't a 'Star Trek' offering, of late.

This beer pours a clear, medium red-brick amber colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, rocky, and somewhat creamy beige head, which leaves some splattered chunky lace around the glass as it very lazily bleeds out of sight.

It smells of gingerbread straight off (bready caramel malt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove spice), brown sugar, pink bubblegum, faintly estery yeast, indistinct nutty notes, and some plain earthy, leafy, and floral green hop bitters. The taste is semi-sweet, grainy and bready caramel malt, a still heady cinnamon, clove, and black pepper spiciness, molasses, some wayward son yeastiness, ethereal bittersweet cocoa powder, equally hard to nail down cafe-au-lait, a strange (but welcome all the same) red wine grape fruitiness, and more timid leafy, weedy, and herbal hoppiness.

The carbonation is rather active in its probing and tingly frothiness, the body an adequate middleweight, and sort of smooth, as both the spice and the yeast take a chunk out of this one's disposable income, as it were. It finishes trending dry, the aforementioned spice really pushing the envelope.

Overall, this is a very welcoming and gentile version of the style, all spice this, and malt that, and under the radar alcohol, er, something, I guess. At any rate, Garrison's Winter Warmer is just that - wintry (by way of seasonal affectations), and just right in the warming department, I should say.
Dec 07, 2016
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Reviewed by EricVonStein from Canada (ON)

4.15/5  rDev +8.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Amber copper tan head nice bubbly film.

Malty and baking spice. Slight earthy bitterness. Mild sweetness. Burnt sugar.

Tastes like ginger bread. Creamy and nice body.
Jan 16, 2016
 
Rated: 3.89 by Mousel from Canada (ON)

Dec 08, 2015
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Reviewed by PorterPro125 from Canada (NB)

3.75/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Serving Type: 500 mL Bottle

A- Dark Amber/ Brown with a foamy 2 1/2 finger head

S- Spicy raisins, cinnamon, cloves, and sweet sugar

T- Rum, raisins, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves. Lots of sweetness although balanced with a slight hop bitterness.

M- Medium body and medium-high carbonation

O- A solid winter warmer from a great Maritime brewery. A little bit more carbonation than the average winter warmer but still excellent.
Apr 05, 2015
 
Rated: 3.75 by cam477 from Canada ()

Dec 10, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by UrbanCaveman from Ohio

Oct 09, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by fostachild from Wisconsin

Aug 12, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by DreamDeath from Canada (NB)

May 18, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by Jeffry-Mazerolle from Canada (NB)

Feb 27, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by RevCraig from Canada (ON)

Jan 21, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by sdm9465 from Canada (NS)

Jan 14, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by lgmol from Canada (NS)

Dec 11, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by deonreds from New York

May 15, 2013
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Reviewed by Ivanhoes_Backpack from Canada (NB)

3.52/5  rDev -8.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Side by side with a bottle of Picaroons Winter Warmer. Each poured into 4oz tasting glasses. Bottled 7 weeks ago.

L – dark amber, a bit cloudy. Light tan head, but nice lacing.

S – spicy nose. Some sweetness in there, but lots of cloves over the sugar. Some cinnamon maybe.

T – really spicy, lots of cloves, some decent malt sweetness in there, but there are times when this approaches a fall beer, almost tasting of some pumpkin interpretations. Some dryness up front, perhaps from hops, that I’m not crazy for.

M – bit too carbonated, feels like it’s bouncing around in my mouth more than I would expect.

O – Of the two beers I would take the Picaroons. This one is a bit too spicy and not quite as sweet as I’d like. That really affects the drinkability of the beer and I think it would be hard to drink several of the spicy Garrison beers in one sitting. More malt and less spices would be my prescription.
Feb 10, 2013
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Reviewed by Kremlock from Canada (ON)

3.97/5  rDev +3.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A: Mahogany in colour and pours a frothy with head that drops to nothing in a matter of seconds.

S: Booze, raisins, cinnamon, fruit cake, and a hint of bubble gum in the background.

T: rum raisins, hints of licorice, cinnamon, cloves, caramelized sugar. It has a rye bread flarour to it and hops bitterness.

M: Med-Full bodies, med carbonation that is great as it cleans up the palate. Bitterness is assertive but does not distract from the maltiness that is present.

O: This is a great winter warmer that is well balanced, yet presents a great bitterness backbone that lacks in many others.
Dec 23, 2012
 
Rated: 4 by CurtisD from Canada (NB)

Nov 19, 2012
 
Rated: 3 by cfalovo97 from Canada (ON)

Nov 06, 2012
 
Rated: 4.5 by bcrocker from Canada (NS)

Oct 06, 2012
 
Rated: 4.5 by Molson2000 from Canada (ON)

Sep 11, 2012
Winter Warmer from Garrison Brewing Company
Beer rating: 86 out of 100 with 64 ratings