Winter Ale
Lighthouse Brewing Company

 

 

 

355ml bottle, day 21 of the 2013 Craft Beer Advent calendar.

This beer pours a clear, very dark russet brown colour, with pervasive red cola highlights, and two pudgy fingers of weakly puffy, and tightly foamy beige head, which leaves some sparse, streaky lace around the glass as it quickly dissolves.

It smells of roasted caramel malt, vanilla, a bit of rum cake, cinnamon and allspice, a mild oily nuttiness, and soft earthy hops. The taste is more vanilla-tinted caramel malt, salty hard toffee, a crackery breadiness, somewhat metallic clove and cinnamon, unripened drupe fruit, a sort of sugar-encrusted holiday cellophane-wrapped nuttiness, and mild earthy, leafy hops.

The bubbles are pretty sedate, neither frothy nor astringent, the body a decently sturdy medium weight, and mostly smooth, a certain, yet understated clammy nature cutting into an otherwise burgeoning creaminess. It finishes on the sweet side, the caramel, nuts, and muddled lingering spices doing well in their impression of leftover Christmas cake.

A nicely malty winter warmer, rather laid-back, yet still well stocked with the expected spices for the style. Simple, and just a wee bit warming, this is something that I could see having a few of, given the right holiday gathering (and availability outside of this specific packaging vector).

 

 

 

 

 

last offering from a dozen mixer, other 3 were disappointing, last shot at redemption
A - clear copper, short head fizzled out to a thin covering
S - an earthy aroma with hints of all spice an roasted nuts
T - strong nutty malt, an artificial candy sweetness, leafy hops, and an astringent finish
M - medium body with prickly carbonation from start to finish, somewhat sticky
O - the best I can say for this is that its the best of four in the mixer which unfortunately isn't saying much

355ml bottle poured into tulip 1/2/12

A clear dark amber with a couple bubbles feeding a short lived finger of tan foam that leaves no lace

S vanilla and cinnamon with a little rum raisin and Christmas cake, just a little booze when you take a deep whiff, and a blast of toffee

T green apple comes out a little, nearly a caramel covered apple but not quite that good, decent stuff but I preferred the smell

M fairly light with enough bubbles to give it some life, just a little heat and a faintly earthy finish

O easy enough to drink for the strength but still not an amazing brew worth looking for

looks like I'm going to be well below the average for this one. being the best beer in my mixed 12 puts it somewhere between average and OK, smell is right on but other then that....

A: It has a warm dark amber color, and a good inch of thick white head that dissipates fairly fast.

S: I smell vanilla and cinnamon, maybe a light hoppiness.

T: It is a decent winter ale with nice spice character, though it has more of a red ale backbone. A nice sweetness lingers after the spice and hop flavors leave. It tastes better warm, more malt flavor comes out.

M: Smooth flavor but it is a little on the thin side.

D: It is a good beer, but no award winner.

It pours a deep copper/amber with flecks of red. A great white head that leaves some pretty lacing on the glass. The nose is dominated with malty aromas - bread, toffee, caramel, and hints of spice. The balance leans towards the malt, as it should, with the hops showing up at the finish for a nice little bite. It's smooth and rich, but too rich as the six-pack has no problems disappearing quickly once it's opened. A real winner from Lighthouse.

I am really liking this beer for a couple of reasons. Available in six packs with a low enough ABV to be able to drink more than one. Solid mouthfeel with no thinness to finish. Lots of malt to make almost Scottish Ale in profile with little sweetness to linger around. You get the hops in the midbody but the feel is more English than PNW ( very much like their IPA). This is my go to winter warmer as it is priced right and doesn't need putting down for a year.

pours dark amber in colour with about one inch of off white smooth head,
smells of dried fruit plum, ginger bread and vanilla.

tastes of dried fruit/xmas cake and slight vanilla and an essence of dark rum.
mouthfeel is decent, smooth and creamy,..
drinkability would be good, throwing 3-4 back in an evening wouldn't be a problem.
would be nice to try this with the alcohol up a percent or two.