Mac Frost Winter Ale - 2003
Portland Brewing Company

 

Dark foggy brown mahogany pour with aip bubbles topped off by a thin settled spotty frothy khaki head cap, leaving a wake of khaki lace. Overall, anonymous in appearance.

Caramel malts erupt in the nose. Actually, this smells spot on of an American barley wine or olde ale like Kalamazoo Third Coast. Mega malt and hops with some scents of cinnamon and cake malts.

First swigs: Biscuit malt dryness that incorporates some cherry, raisin and tobacco notes. Some ABV and hops are detectable but not overt. Dry aftertaste that mingles around the roasted malt and ginger snap flavors.

Frothy feel that hangs with a sugared flour aftertaste that left cloying off bitterness. Nothing that will be craved beyond this bottle.

Last swigs: Olde ale maltiness swizzles with delicate fruit of bananas and dry end. Found this bottle at Cirle Liquors for $1.75 a 12 oz. This is an olde ale in sheeps clothing.

Beer is good. Happy beering.

Ah, nothing like a winter warmer on a sunny day in late August to remind one of roaring fires inside and snowstorms outside. I can wait for winter, but I couldn't wait any longer to try this beer. Something about it called to me today.

Bronzed brown with a bold infusion of carmine. The ecru head is creamily firm, remains humped in the center as it falls and leaves an impressive amount of lace in a scattershot pattern. The nose is enjoyable. There's plenty of malt to go around, but in place of winter spices, I smell hops.

The beer is mega-malty and tastes of heavily toasted sweet caramel. Hops aren't nearly as prominent on the palate as they are in the nose. That's not a knock. Even though I'm a dyed-in-the-wool hophead, I love malty beer as well. Other facets to the flavor profile include sticky toffee, dark butterscotch and sugared pecans. As the beer warms, the hoppiness becomes more apparent, at least on the finish.

As in the nose, I don't appreciate any Christmas spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice that I usually love in winter warmers and Christmas beers. It may be my imagination, but it seems as though Mac Frost drinks higher than the stated ABV. Even though I don't pick up any alcohol on the palate, it still resembles a much bigger beer. Maybe it's just hard for me to imagine an ale this bold, this malty and this full-bodied weighing in at less than 8%.

I enjoyed Mac Frost Winter Ale 2003 quite a bit. Without checking my other reviews, I'm pretty sure that it's my favorite Pyramid/Portland beer. A blast of winter in late summer. I'm glad that I cracked Mac Frost open today.

Bottle purchased at the Rocket Market in Spokane.

Poured an dark amber, somewhere between orange and red. Very big off-white head with massive amounts of lace dripping down the insides of my glass.

Smell is of sweet caramelish malts and citrusy hops peacefull coexisting in one glass. This smells like a beer rich in flavor and perfectly balanced between hops and malt.

Taste is every bit as rewarding as the smell. Caramel sweet malts provide sweetness without being too cloying, and are ably assisted by the crisp hop bite that never gets too overbearing, held in their position by the malts. This is like the Cold War in the glass. Each side is perfectly positioned but unable to gain dominance over the other and thereby utterly destroy the perfect balance of this beer. There's a taste of dark fruits in the background, but its very subtle and provides a little depth to the proceedings.

This feels like a damn good beer. Pleasingly thick, but not too thick. Substance without suffocation.

This is a very drinkable winter warmer. I can say this, despite it being April, because it's dropping down to 28 degrees tonight here in balmy Spokane! Seriously, this is a great beer, not to be missed if you can still find it.

Man, this is one bad ass brew from Mr. Mac. It was quite a suprise to me. I was expecting something malty, but hopped over, like most of the winter brews this season. This was more malty than hoppy. It had a caramel taste to it, as well as a dark fruit type maltiness. It was pretty smooth, but had a slight tinge of hops. The hops were there, but just an undertone of the entire drink. I would recommend this brew to anyone looking for a malty strong ale for these cold ass days.

Added a 2003 version since this year's version was not a Weizenbock.... 2004 version was the same style as 2003.

2004 Review (differences):
Seemed a bit sweeter than I remember the 2003 being -- dropped T and D scores from 4.5 to 4.0.

2003 Review:
Brown-ish amber with a full creamy tan head, good carbonation, and spotty lace. Big East Kent Golding hop aroma with a fruity aroma at first. Nice fruity ale with a great balance and a noticeable hop character but leans more malty. Medium bodied.

Label states: "Caramel malt and East Kent Golding hops"

per 6-pack carrier and website: Pale and Munich malts, 3 varieties of Caramel malts. Northern Brewer hops (bitterness) and East Kent Golding hops (aroma). Willamette and English Colthup Goldings hops (dry hopped).

2003 Version
Tasted: 12/24/03

2004 Version
Tasted: 05/26/05

($7.99 / 6-pack)