Winter Works Holiday Ale 2004
Boston Beer Works - Canal Street

I was a little early to catch my commuter train back to Waltham, so I stopped by the Canal Beer Works to see what they had on tap. It being the winter season, what better way to start off than to have their winter offering. It poured a mildly hazy copper to amber with a thin cream colored head, and a dense lace down the side of the glass. The nose had mild aroma of spice with some sweet malt and just a touch of hops. All the same in the flavor, but with a more pronounced hop bite. This subtle oily mouth feel and a decent drinkability.

Caramel/orange color with a 1mm cap that does leave a very nice lace--both lacy and the rings of foam effect that you like to see.

Nothing special on the smell. These winter warmers are not supposed to have such a faint smell as this. Some mild spiciness of cloves and/or cinnamon/nutmeg/allspice and slight maltiness as well.

Slightly more pronounced flavors of these spices when tasting vs. smelling. The spices are hiding any real hop elements that would be present without them. All you get is some maltiness with these spices.

Sticky mouthfeel that has some piquant spiciness on tongue and lips. Perhaps a bit too much.

The drinkability is not good either. Very disappointing winter seasonal from BBW.

I should also note that I asked for a taste of this before ordering a pint and while I didn't think the sample was much good either, I had one anyway cuz I wanted to have a Christmas beer from my nearest local brewpub the week before Christmas and this was all they had.