Cold Snap Ale
McCann's Food & Brew

Here is how the brewer describes it:"Our new Dark Seasonal is brewed with six different grains including oatmeal which contributes a velvet like mouth feel. This strong ale is the cure for our bitter Minnesota winters. A generous portion of Simcoe hops are added to the kettle during the brewing process to keep the malt sweetness in check and giving this beer a foward hop presence.6.5% ABV. It's a bit of a hybrid style oatmeal porter/pale ale. I enjoy pissing off the style police from time to time."
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My Review-

Based on how this tastes to me I will call it an American Porter for this site as the porter qualities are much stronger than the pale ale qualities.

In fact the Simcoe hops are hard to detect...I love this hop...it is my favorite hop and I was excited to see how it would work in this beer. My conclusion is inconclusive :)

This does have a great velvety creamy mouthfeel. Body is about medium..certainly not any more than that...perhaps on the light side of medium...no heat evident...

Aroma and taste of dark chocolate, burnt malts, licorice, toffee, caramel, and coffee....

Oats clearly add a creamy texture to the feel of this beer. But it is not an immense beer. I wouldn't drink this out of a snifter or anything like that but it is a nice flavorful easy drinking winter seasonal.

Now back to the Simcoe hops. I've always found them to be citrus/tropical fruity...but apparently they can add a piney flavor depending on when they are added to the boil. That is what I taste in this beer. I get a piney/course hop finish which reminds me of Chinook hops...not big and bold but enough to notice..certainly not what I expected from the Simcoe but it works as a finishing hop ok...

Nice winter beer.