Winter Warmer
Machine House Brewery

2025-12-29
16oz can served in a big snifter. Can does not appear to be dated.

Pours dark brown, big fluffy head that settles slowly into a lumpy landscape with pretty tall, thick lacing. Smell is nutty, woody, a little spice, something rich and toffeelike.

Taste is very strong, rich toffeelike flavor comes through more strongly, more of a bitter wood character, something like a horehound.

Mouthfeel is medium and smooth. Very nice beer. Kind of a spicy intense nut brown.

 

a very cool type of beer to find on cask, unexpected, sort of the surprise from my visit here, a rad spot by the way. its brewed with heaps of rye malt as well as mesquite smoked brown sugar apparently, which is pretty epic. i think the beer in the glass is wonderful, rich and sweet and festive without being spiced, subtle in the right ways, unforced, drinkable for what it is, quite well refined, creative, and ideal for cask. a nice frothy looking mahogany brew with a low glow in the low lighting of the machine house taproom. the nose has layers of date and raisin, maple and toffee, english ale yeast and bran, but also other fruitiness, hints of dried cherry, port wine, and fig jam, really seasonally brilliant, love that it is not spiced as many of these are, or leaning into being hoppy, this doesnt seem to have much hops at all. the rye is more evident in the flavor than the aroma, nice white peppery type earthiness, some caramelization character in here, holiday fruitcake, rum, confectionary sugar at the end, and really only a kiss of smoke, that isnt a major factor but adds some nice mellow complexity, long through the finish, brown sugar for sure, love the ferment on this, overall quality is excellent, old worldy but very original too, super impressive, my favorite beer i had on our impressive visit to the brewery, this place is absolutely killing it. an ideal winter beer right here, so creamy on cask, top notch!

500mL bottle (no date or code found) into an English pint. Pours a beautiful clear amber mahogany with a fluffy eggshell head, nice retention.

Aroma is clean, bready and spicy. Dark malt, house yeast. Enticing.

Taste follows nose. Simple and clean. Bready medium dark malt, fresh water, yeast. Some fig and date notes, light brown sugar. Gentle, floral bitterness from Old World hops.

Mouthfeel is spot on. So drinkable. The kind of beer you’d love to sip on a dark rainy night in a little English pub.

Overall an excellent, understated, well-constructed winter warmer.

 

 

 

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a dark, lightly hazy, reddish brown with a thin, off-white head that dissipates to patches with light lacing. Aroma of dark biscuit malt, a touch of molasses, rye bread and a little smokiness. Flavor follows with dark biscuit malt with a touch of char, rye bread and grain and wood smoke. Finishes malty, dark and lightly smoky. Medium bodied with light creaminess. A different tack on the winter warmer style, and very English. Less sweet and spicy than most winter ales, but the rich, smoky malt does taste very seasonal. It's easy to place oneself in a smoky English pub with a fireplace roaring. A nice, winter season English style ale. These guys are the go-to brewery for English brews in Seattle. Nice job.