-
Stop lurking! Log in to search, post in our forums, review beers, see fewer ads, and more. — Todd, Founder of BeerAdvocate
Samuel Adams Winter Lager (2001-2019)
Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)
- From:
- Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)
- Massachusetts, United States
- Style:
- Bock
- ABV:
- 5.6%
- Score:
- 81
- Avg:
- 3.59 | pDev: 13.65%
- Reviews:
- 2,084
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Mar 02, 2024
- Added:
- Jan 25, 2001
- Wants:
- 119
- Gots:
- 1,507
Festive Bock with Spices.
Winter Lager's rich malt notes and accents of cinnamon, ginger, and orange peel are just the right companion for decking the halls, your holiday table, your fridge, your hand... You get the picture, no matter what or how you celebrate, do it with a Winter Lager.
Winter Lager's rich malt notes and accents of cinnamon, ginger, and orange peel are just the right companion for decking the halls, your holiday table, your fridge, your hand... You get the picture, no matter what or how you celebrate, do it with a Winter Lager.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Strat58cat:
Reviewed by Strat58cat from California
2.9/5 rDev -19.2%
look: 4 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
2.9/5 rDev -19.2%
look: 4 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
This is another beer that starts Samuel Adams fans down the path of only drinking Boston Lager. Sure, it looks so good that you can almost taste your hopes for what it is. Plus, you've heard about how they add spices in this lager, and brew it up with a heavy malt, so that it's a true winter beer from the winter environs of Boston. It may be the first seasonal you drink from Samuel Adams, because of all the promised goodness. Then you drink it and it's like . . . wtf? Damn! I shoud've just had a Boston Lager.
This is another old-school, "big" beer from Samuel Adams, but by "big" they mean a big beery malt. Beery Malt? Really? It is extremely lightly hopped (22 ibu) compared to today's beers, or even the original Boston Lager. The spice that they talk about adding during brewing is barely detectable. After trying this one, nobody could blame you if you decided to drink only Boston Lager. However, they do make White Christmas, which is pretty good.
The look, as with many of the beers from Samuel Adams, shows their attention to quality ingredients. It's a deep copper color. The head foams up very abundantly and laces very abundantly. Looks good!
When you snuff in the aroma, however, you realize that something may be amiss. There's just not much to it. Forget about a powerful aroma of grapefruit, pine or any of the other hallmarks of a modern IPA - of course. Also forget about the ineffable scent of paradise that you get in a Boston Lager. It's basically just a meh smell of beery malt. There's a barely detectable hint of cinnamon spice in the mix, but it's about a 1 on a scale to 10. Uh, oh.
The taste confirms that damn! I should have just ordered a Boston Lager. It's malt. That's the flavor - beery malt. Now I'm not talking about a Lagunitas Sucks multi-layered, syrup-thick complex of flavor combining sweetness and spice. I'm talking about a powerfully beery malt. "Beeaahh" as a Beantown resident might say. Time has sort of passed by that so-so flavor. The spice is really not contributing much. It may smell great when they brew it, but it doesn't do much for me.
The feel is fine. It's not super-thick feeling, but far from watery. With the powerfully beery malt flavor, the consistency is pretty substantial. The carbonation seems medium.
Overall, time has passed by this approach to craft beer. Perhaps as a reaction to the watery beers of the giant brewers, Samuel Adams brewed a hugely beery-malt of a beery malt beery malt. Did I mention it tastes like beery malt? Pass.
Nov 02, 2015This is another old-school, "big" beer from Samuel Adams, but by "big" they mean a big beery malt. Beery Malt? Really? It is extremely lightly hopped (22 ibu) compared to today's beers, or even the original Boston Lager. The spice that they talk about adding during brewing is barely detectable. After trying this one, nobody could blame you if you decided to drink only Boston Lager. However, they do make White Christmas, which is pretty good.
The look, as with many of the beers from Samuel Adams, shows their attention to quality ingredients. It's a deep copper color. The head foams up very abundantly and laces very abundantly. Looks good!
When you snuff in the aroma, however, you realize that something may be amiss. There's just not much to it. Forget about a powerful aroma of grapefruit, pine or any of the other hallmarks of a modern IPA - of course. Also forget about the ineffable scent of paradise that you get in a Boston Lager. It's basically just a meh smell of beery malt. There's a barely detectable hint of cinnamon spice in the mix, but it's about a 1 on a scale to 10. Uh, oh.
The taste confirms that damn! I should have just ordered a Boston Lager. It's malt. That's the flavor - beery malt. Now I'm not talking about a Lagunitas Sucks multi-layered, syrup-thick complex of flavor combining sweetness and spice. I'm talking about a powerfully beery malt. "Beeaahh" as a Beantown resident might say. Time has sort of passed by that so-so flavor. The spice is really not contributing much. It may smell great when they brew it, but it doesn't do much for me.
The feel is fine. It's not super-thick feeling, but far from watery. With the powerfully beery malt flavor, the consistency is pretty substantial. The carbonation seems medium.
Overall, time has passed by this approach to craft beer. Perhaps as a reaction to the watery beers of the giant brewers, Samuel Adams brewed a hugely beery-malt of a beery malt beery malt. Did I mention it tastes like beery malt? Pass.
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by LagerMan_US from Maine
4.43/5 rDev +23.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.43/5 rDev +23.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
This is a superb brew from one of America's best lager producers; rich, malty, with additional complex seasonal flavors.
Excellent recipe - a great 'dark lager'. (assuming that term exists ? ! )
I wish there were more specialty American lagers that were this good.
Nov 22, 2023Excellent recipe - a great 'dark lager'. (assuming that term exists ? ! )
I wish there were more specialty American lagers that were this good.
Reviewed by Deaconmark from Illinois
3.72/5 rDev +3.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.72/5 rDev +3.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
New for 2023 listed as smooth and festive. It pours an absolutely beautiful color dark but clear. It has a nice dense head that is small but very dense. The nose is a bit sweet but nothing that is too powerful. The initial taste is a bit tame and sweet. Notices of brown sugar and the malty sweetness, but not huge. A bit of a hop finish. Interesting I have this beer 2 tries before rating and clearly it is better if you let it sit in the glass and warm a bit. The flavor opens up. Certainly not a bad beer but nothing outstanding. I can drink it again but much more offerings need to be rated.
Nov 07, 2023Reviewed by Sigmund from Norway
2.94/5 rDev -18.1%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75
2.94/5 rDev -18.1%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75
355 ml bottle, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 5.5%. Chestnut-coloured beer, moderate off-white head. The aroma has some caramel, dust and grass. Fizzy mouthfeel. The flavour has plenty of caramel but is not too sweet, also notes of brown bread, the spice addition (cinnamon, ginger, orange peel) is fairly moderate and quite mild. The bitterness is low. Certainly drinkable, but not really great.
May 16, 2021Reviewed by RyanK252 from California
3.77/5 rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.77/5 rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Bottle poured into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass
A: Pours copper amber with a frothy light khaki head that settles to a thin layer and leaves a little light lacing.
S: Toasty, bready, solid hit of spice, dark fruit, slightly earthy, and some toffee sweetness.
T: Follows the nose, leads with big toasty bready malt, spice comes right out, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, orange peel is more subtle, dark fruit, plum and fig, a bit earthy, rounded out with toffee sweetness.
M: On the fuller side of medium body, moderate carbonation, slight creaminess. More body than you'd expect for a 5.6% lager.
O: It's been quite a while since I've had this one. I can understand some people not being super into how heavily spiced it is, but on a cold festive night it hits the spot.
Feb 22, 2021A: Pours copper amber with a frothy light khaki head that settles to a thin layer and leaves a little light lacing.
S: Toasty, bready, solid hit of spice, dark fruit, slightly earthy, and some toffee sweetness.
T: Follows the nose, leads with big toasty bready malt, spice comes right out, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, orange peel is more subtle, dark fruit, plum and fig, a bit earthy, rounded out with toffee sweetness.
M: On the fuller side of medium body, moderate carbonation, slight creaminess. More body than you'd expect for a 5.6% lager.
O: It's been quite a while since I've had this one. I can understand some people not being super into how heavily spiced it is, but on a cold festive night it hits the spot.
Rated by TheRougeBastard from North Carolina
3.5/5 rDev -2.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.5/5 rDev -2.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Christmas in a bottle!
Feb 14, 2021
Samuel Adams Winter Lager (2001-2019) from Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)
Beer rating:
81 out of
100 with
6315 ratings
We love reviews (150 characters or more)! Check out: How to Review a Beer. You don't need to get fancy. Drop some thoughts on the beer's attributes (look, smell, taste, feel) plus your overall impression. Something that backs up your rating and helps others. Thanks!