Warm Welcome
Ridgeway Brewing

Warm WelcomeWarm Welcome
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Ridgeway Brewing
 
England, United Kingdom
Style:
English Brown Ale
Ranked #128
ABV:
6%
Score:
78
Ranked #26,886
Avg:
3.4 | pDev: 13.82%
Reviews:
132
Ratings:
182
Status:
Active
Rated:
Dec 13, 2023
Added:
Nov 15, 2005
Wants:
  2
Gots:
  9
Yeeow! Especially for the holidays, a brown ale with real attitude! The malts used to make Warm Welcome are roasted to give a hearty amber-brown colour and a warm, rounded nutty taste. This fine ale is dedicated to all you curious brew-lovers out there who ever had serious questions about the mechanics of Santa's supposed arrival by way of the chimney.
View: More Beers
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by jim102864:
Photo of jim102864
Reviewed by jim102864 from Connecticut

3.61/5  rDev +6.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
The Ridgeway bottle and packaging for all of their Christmas themed beers is very clever. The 1.9 oz bottle pours perfectly into my imperial pint glass. The appearance is a deep, lovely mahogany. No head for this brown ale to speak of. I detected some nut aroma, but it is a glimpse at best. Taste is more or less what you would expect from a brown; light malt up front followed by chestnut, maybe walnuts in the finish. Mouthfeel is slightly bready but really unremarkable. Overall drinkability is good, but there is nothing about this beer that makes me want to run out and buy a 6 of it. I'd like to see how it fares out of a keg. A nice brew.
Feb 03, 2007
More User Ratings:
Photo of GuyFawkes
Reviewed by GuyFawkes from Illinois

3.25/5  rDev -4.4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
I had this on draft 12/5/23 @ the Hopleaf.

Semi-opaque brown/orange appearance.

Small tan head; strong, tree-rung lacing remained.

Winter spices & apple cider notes in the nose.

Medium thin mouthfeel.

Apple cider & mild winter spices on the palate.

This was dull and thin. A bad keg, maybe? Regardless, NOT one I'll seek out again.
Dec 13, 2023
 
Rated: 3.58 by cgrunin from Texas

Dec 02, 2023
Photo of Rug
Reviewed by Rug from Massachusetts

3.59/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
I’ve had this beer sitting around for quite a bit, bought on a whim. I reached for it this afternoon and now going to review it, it seems to be rated quite low unfortunately. Regardless, a nice classic Brown Ale sounds good right now so it’s worth a shot. Let’s get into it

Pours a murky brownish orange with a finger of creamy off white head that slowly fades to a thin cap and leaves minimal lacing

The nose is a bit rough around the edges, but not too bad all things considered. I’m picking up on aromas of bready malt, black tea, earthy hops, golden raisin, burnt chestnut, and light biscuit

It’s a touch more abrasive in taste than the aroma would lead you to believe, but still solid. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting biscuity malt, earthy hops, rye bread, golden raisin, burnt chestnut, toffee, and light black tea. The swallow brings notes of biscuity malt, earthy hops, black tea, rye bread, walnut, burnt sugar, light toffee, and golden raisin

A medium body pairs with gentle tingling carbonation, resulting in a slick and bitter beer. Finishes neutral with a firm bitterness

This isn’t great by any means, but it’s not as bad as the ratings would suggest. Just a touch too bitter for what it is
May 26, 2023
Photo of schoolboy
Reviewed by schoolboy from Ohio

3.84/5  rDev +12.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
This bottle came to me as a (regift?) gift from my neighbor - actually he was leaving for the season (4+ months) and gave me the two brews in their fridge. I like the price. I like the brew too - an old-world flavor.

It pours a lovely dirty light brown with very nice, fine head. The aroma is of sweet malts and some hops coming through - nice. The taste is classic, bitter aftertaste on a malty base. The whole experience is authentic.

Recommended. I think this is a good example of the style. Thanks, neightbor.
Jan 08, 2023
Photo of puck1225
Reviewed by puck1225 from Texas

3.87/5  rDev +13.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
I actually liked this beer.

Purchased at a local grocery store. Poured from a bottle into a a tall pint glass. Clear brown color with nice cream beige head and good lacing. Slightly nutty smell. The taste is were the beer shines. It is nutty, fruity (prunes), and malty. Full fill. Enjoyed it.
Dec 08, 2022
Photo of Ozzylizard
Reviewed by Ozzylizard from Pennsylvania

3.38/5  rDev -0.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Warm Welcome Nut Brown Ale from Ridgeway Brewing, imported by lime Ventures, Concord, CA. 500 mL bottle picked up at World Market, SAT. On room temperature display at store. Stored at 34 degrees at home. Reviewed 27/11/22. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Rear label poorly stamped “L24 222”. Served at 54.5 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature is 59.1 degrees.
Appearance – 3.5.
First pour – Medium Amber (SRM 12), clear.
Body – Medium Amber (SRM 12), translucent. Under direct and rear light, same. This chill haze disappears, and the beer clears and sports a reddish hue.
Head – Average (Maximum 3.8 cm, aggressive center pour), beige, high density with a few small rocks, quickly diminishing to an undulating 1.1 to 1.3 cm medium density crown and thin, rocky cap.
Lacing – Fair. A wide thin band of tiny bubbles with a few larger holes. Above the band is a disintegrating band leaving many tiny pieces of foam.
Aroma – 3 – Very weak malt and neither hops nor yeast. Extremely weak nuttiness that sent me to the kitchen to sniff nuts – not pecans, walnuts, pistachios, cashews, or peanuts. Maybe chestnuts, but I haven’t found any this year, so who knows?
Flavor – 3.5 – Slightly bitter like biting down on part of a walnut pericarp. No yeast, but a slight maltiness is noted. No ethanol (6.5% ABV as marked on label) aroma or taste. No gastric warming occurs. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 3.5 – Thin, watery, soft but lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.5 Well. Every year I trundle to World Market while I’m in SAT to look for Ridgeway beers, weird foods in strange packages, and cheap Glühwein. This year the food was the tastiest of the three. Not that the beer was bad – the bitterness just seemed a bit much for the light body. The weak unidentifiable nuttiness didn’t help either. I can’t find the sales receipt, but these Ridgeway brews usually run $5 - $6 a bottle so at least it was cheap.
Nov 27, 2022
Photo of Sigmund
Reviewed by Sigmund from Norway

3.27/5  rDev -3.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
Shared bottle at local tasting, from Voldby Købmandsgaard. Amber to reddish brown colour, moderate off-white head. Sweetish aroma, toffee and caramel. Toffee and nuts in the flavour, fairly dry, more distinct hops than expected.
Jan 08, 2022
Photo of Darkmagus82
Reviewed by Darkmagus82 from Texas

3.71/5  rDev +9.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Poured from a bottle into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a light brown color with a one finger head of off-white foam. The head has a good level of retention, very slowly fading to leave a bit of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma of the brew is heaviest of a lightly toasted bread smell mixed with a decent showing of some nut of a pecan and walnut smell. Along with these aromas comes a decent showing of some caramel and a little bit of molasses.
Taste – The taste begins with a caramel and molasses sweetness mixed with some lightly toasted brown bread tastes. Along with these flavors is a bit of herbal hop and a little bit of nuttiness. As the taste advances forward the nut grows stronger and is mixed with some flavors of earthiness and more sweetness. With the roasted and toasted bready tastes dwindling a bit, one is left with a moderately sweet and rather pleasant slightly nutty taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is medium in thickness and creaminess with a lower carbonation level. For the style the feel is good and makes for an easy sipping brew.
Overall – A rather nice easy drinking nut brown ale. Moderately sweet, with a lighter roastiness and a bit of nice nuttiness and some light dank hop. Overall a pretty nice brew.
Dec 06, 2020
 
Rated: 3.5 by ajdemma from New York

Jan 23, 2020
 
Rated: 3.79 by JamesBondGA from Georgia

Dec 25, 2018
 
Rated: 3.75 by paulish from New York

Dec 05, 2018
Photo of tone77
Reviewed by tone77 from Pennsylvania

3.41/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
Poured from a brown 16.9 oz. bottle. Has a deep copper color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is strong of dark breads. Taste is dark breads, some herbal notes, hints of nuts. Feels medium/light bodied in the mouth and overall is decent, but one is enough for me.
Mar 06, 2018
 
Rated: 3.5 by 1971bernat from Virginia

Jan 03, 2018
 
Rated: 3.67 by dcmchew from Romania

Dec 28, 2017
Photo of vinicole
Reviewed by vinicole from England

3.59/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Bottle. Amber in colour with a thin, dense head.
Mild aroma of toasted malt. Distant hop present with a bit of sultana.
Light toffee flavour. Labelled nut is indistinct.
Moderate feel. Light carbonation.
Needs more ooomf.
Dec 08, 2017
Photo of Lone_Freighter
Reviewed by Lone_Freighter from Vermont

4/5  rDev +17.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured into an English pint glass, the appearance was a clean semi-murky brown color with a light transparency about it. Just a film of a little white foamy head dissipated at a moderate pace. Slight messy lace.
The aroma had some roasted nuts (somewhat pecan-like), toasted cake-like qualities, biscuits, dried earthy leafiness and ended with some figs.
The flavor was moderately sweet with an ample roastiness coming forth more as it warmed. Mild nutty to cakey-ness in the aftertaste. Some cocoa powder seemed to also come across in the aftertaste dryly.
The mouthfeel was between light and medium bodied with a fair sessionability about it. Carbonation felt good. ABV felt on par. Nice mobile smooth and roasty to sweet sort of finish.
Overall, very nicely done English brown ale that I wouldn't mind coming back to during the holidays.
Nov 04, 2017
Photo of woodychandler
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania

3.37/5  rDev -0.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
And so begins my 2017 Christmas in July celebration, inspired by the good peeps at The FGBS who held Christmas in July on Tuesday. I had meant to drink these on Christmas day 2016, but I got rather blotto early on & set them aside as part of The Bottle Backlog at Chez Woody. Today, 28 July 2017, marks the 16th year of my Pops' passing & so I wanted to drink something a little cheerful to boost my spirits.

From the bottle: "One of our range of very special Christmas beers brewed in England for the USA. We all know of course, that Santa is really from Lapland!"; "A Perfect Holiday Toast!"; "Yeow! Especially for the holidays, a brown ale with real attitude! The malts used to make Warm Welcome are roasted to give a hearty amber-brown color and a warm, rounded nutty taste. This fine ale is dedicated to all you curious brew-lovers out there who ever had serious questions about the mechanics of Santa's supposed arrival by way of the chimney. (How does he do that, anyway?)"

At last, a Pop!pable cap! Having done the deed, I began a nice, slow, gentle pour into the awaiting glass. Once it had been sufficiently decanted, I performed a vigorous in-glass swirl to raise just over a finger of foamy, light-tan head with modest retention, quickly becoming wisps. Color was Coppery-Brown (SRM = > 17, < 22) with NE-quality clarity. Nose smelled of roasted chestnuts (not a favorite of mine), caramel and a load of treacle. Hmm. Mouthfeel was on the thin side of medium, not thin or watery, but not much beyond it, either. The taste was an odd amalgam of light smoke, roasted nuts & treacle. It is that last bit that I just do not enjoy. I have never enjoyed the flavor of treacle in anything & especially not in beer. It gives off a very sharp, dissonant taste which does not resonate well with me. Finish was semi-sweet, but I just was not getting a welcoming holiday vibe. YMMV.
Jul 29, 2017
Photo of macrosmatic
Reviewed by macrosmatic from Florida

3.05/5  rDev -10.3%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3
Reviewed from (long-standing) notes. Poured from a 16.9 oz. bottle into a Russian River goblet.

A: Light brown and fairly clear. Average visible carbonation and a thin off-white head. Really surprisingly light-colored for the listed style.

S: Sweet roasted malts, toasted toffee, light nuts and brown sugar.

T: Sweet toffee and brown sugar, light toasted malts, and some inappropriate green apple. The green apple flavor almost comes across as Belgian yeast esters, but I'm not certain that that is what it's from. The sweet maltiness lasts into hang.

M: Body is too thin, bordering on watery. Low carbonation sensation, and low alcohol presence.

O: Aside from the festive label on the bottle, there's nothing worthwhile about this. Not completely undrinkable...is that a compliment??
Jan 20, 2017
Photo of Suds
Reviewed by Suds from Missouri

3.56/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
This beer is a golden-honey colored beer, with a medium white head. The smell is of crackers, bread crust, and honey. Wonderful English ale. The body is full and the finish ad a hint of malt. Nice.
Dec 24, 2016
Warm Welcome from Ridgeway Brewing
Beer rating: 78 out of 100 with 182 ratings