St. Nick's Winter Warmer
Barley's Brewing Company

 

 

Sample acquired in trade with moejuck (thanks!).

Poured a deep, murky brown color with a smaller sized off white head. Subdued aromas of oranges, caramel, and spices (I'm getting cinammon and light ginger). Stong orange peel begins the tastes that give way to ginger, toffee, citrus, light cinammon, nutmeg, honey, and I'm getting some dark fruits in there as well. A lot going on once you get past the orange peel. Even a few minutes after my last sip, I can still smell & taste the orange peels. I would have never guessed this puppy was over 11% as i was not getting any alcohol in it at all.

Notes from 11/30/06

Very deep dark brown, generous tan head. Roasty Baltic porter like aroma. Very spicy, allspice, anise, blackberries and earthy dark soil aroma. This seems very good at first, but the palate didn’t keep up, tartish and sweetish on a vegetal background. Shallot and tobacco messing around grapes and spices. Light-medium body doesn’t feel like it’s all there. I fear this has lost some, but this is one of the best alcohol hiding job ever!

I grabbed a growler of this a while back and am doing this from memory. I can’t believe I didn’t review this before.
Cloudy, mahogany and had an off white foamy head. Very thin crown on top that left oily residue around the glass as I drank. Distinct malt, and cinnamon aroma with a small hint of all-spice. Malt, heavy malt – not for the weak. Citrus and cinnamon came in around the end but the malt kept the taste intense. An warming of alcohol came in at the end leaving me very satisfied. One of my favorites.

This beer rocks even more! It is honestly better than the "standard" lower-ABV Christmas Ale. Cask-conditioned version: This is the pinnacle of Christmas brews as far as I am concerned. Aroma of cinnamon, hops and malt. Warming flavor of alcohol and malt. An absolutely fantastic brew that has all of the qualities of the draught version but is even better. This version pours a more hazy unfiltered color and a thicker head. Flavor is much more mellow and warming, with the alcohol and spices just oozing out. Excellent!

This beer is the first experiment by Barley's at it's second location of the new Ohio law. It is a bit different than their other traditional Christmas Ale. It was a cloudy, orange-amber color and had an off white foamy head. The aroma was of malt, citrus and cinnamon. The flavor was of of malt, citrus and cinnamon and other elements present which may have been the ginger and the honey. There is a lot of elements playing around in the flavor and finish. And at 11%, it is not for the weak. Another great beer from Barley's.