Double Diamond Winter Ale
Dick's Brewing Company

*archived rating*

12oz bottle poured into a Great Lakes snifter

o- a solid winter warmer with notes of caramelized sugar, cocoa, and grape-like character; sweet throughout, but not overbearing; med-full bodied and chewy; enjoyable- would have again

Consumption date: 01.11.11
Bottle date: not captured

 

Poured into a snifter, the appearance was a deep burnt red color with a nice finger’s worth of white foamy head that crept slowly into the beer leaving some subtle concave lace just a rim of it. The aroma had some caramel malt, lightly roasted, toast and then some sweet pomme-like fruits. Sweet grain. The flavor had the sweet enriching maltiness flowing back and forth between the grains and malts. Toast to caramel malty enriching aftertaste flows into the finish. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a fair sessionable to sipping quality about it. Moderate carbonation. ABV felt good as is. Overall, pretty nice Winter Warmer worthy of having again.

 

 

 

The hops are so overbearing that none of the other flavours come through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12oz bottle served in pint glass. Beer is a deep brownish red in color, slightly hazed, but produces neither head nor evidence of high viscosity. Spicy and phenolic aroma. Big flavors of spice. Very winter warmer. Suggests prunes and dark fruit, and betrays a fair amount of its alcohol content. I get nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. There's clearly some residual sugar in here, but the finish is dry, with plenty of beta hops to balance out the sweetness. Another really enjoyable winter warmer for me this season!

 

 

Bottle into pintglass.
A: Strong coffee brown, nicely opaque. Vigorous head. Holds better if poured a little warm.
S: Mostly malt and doesn't really give the full picture.
T: Best aspect of this beer. Nutty and dark, with a just a little burnt in it. The malt balance in this one is among the better of any NW brewer's winter offerings, and it has been consistent and consistently good for years.
M: Mmmm. Gets better the closer to the back of the throat it gets. Slosh it around.
D: Don't like a lot of the other Dicks beers but the DD is the exceptional exception. A goto option on any cooler shelf you can find it on. Love that they haven't even changed the GRAPHICS for 10 years, why mess with a good thing?