Bert Grant's Deep Powder Winter Ale
Yakima Brewing Co. / Bert Grant's Ales

This was another one of those "beginning of the end" beers right after (or right before) the namesake's demise. The brewery and its products soon went downhill.

This was basically the rebranded winter ale, they got rid of the hops from the label of the aforementioned beer and appear to have made some tweaks to the recipe (that didn't improve it). Has a lighter color, this is a light brown and amber kind of color closer to Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale (lighter side of style spectrum) than it does Jubelale (darker chestnut). Soft tan 1/3" head. Mild current of nuts and toffee grain in the nose.

Taste was like equal parts brown ale, winter warmer and amber ale. Smooth mouth feel yes, but in terms of malt body, viscosity, flavor, nuttiness, warmth, it fell below expectations from the prior winter ale here. Even the relatively mild hop bite from the prior is missing. 6% abv. Was kind of a heftier Newcastle/Killians blend. Not even kidding, every beer they did was worse after the rebrand.

 

 

 

This beer pours a golden brown with a light brown head. It looks fluffy, and fades kind of fast. It leaves minimal laces. I smells malty with hints of caramel. It has a nice toasted malt aroma to it. I can not detect any hops. This beer tastes sweet. It tastes slightly chocolate like. The toasted malts are slightly aggressive. Maybe a little too aggressive. Not much hop flavor present. This beer is carbonated well. It might not make a good session beer because the flavor is too aggressive. I dont think this beer is worth it. Do not go out of your way to get it.

This one pours a beautiful dark red with some brown mixed in, almost a ruby color. A nice thick head sat on top and worked its way down at an easy pace.

The smells of raspberry, slightly burnt marshmallow and fresh bread came out and didn't seem unusual for a winter brew.

This beer has a nice wheat flavor to it without much of the scent coming through in the taste. I wanted to give taste a higher score but I felt that what taste was there was a lacking because it seemed thin and watery with little body. The aftertaste was hoppy and dry.

It wouldn't be hard to put a couple of these away if you don't mind what is missing.

The last of my 2004-05 winter brew collection- this one made it allthe way to April!

Pours a medium brown with a reddish tint, fairly cleat, with a nice off-white head that drops to a decent beer cover as the session passes.

Aroma of malty biscuits, toffee, and somewhat sweet. Flavor fooows through, pleasant, honey used in the brew is evident- a mild hop finish.

Decent, even though I am not a big fan of the style in general.

Dark clear reddish brown with a small light brown head that leaves some lacing in my glass, caramel fruity aromas. Caramel, toffee, chocolate and coffee flavors almost porter like. Medium bodied with a soft and creamy mouthfeel, light carbonation, finishes dry. Much better as it warms, I like it.

The sample pours deep mohogany, with deep burgandy notes. The head is tawny and fleeting, but with a persistent lace in the corners.

The aroma is malty and nutty, with some diacetyl and a bit of smokiness (Id expect nothing less from a Grant's beer). I get some buttery, dark fruit and caramel-like notes as it warms. It grows in complexity, with hints of strawberry, coffee, banana, bisquit, and toffee.

The taste is big and caramelly, with buttery malty bisquit and a hint of hop flavor. There is a hint of warming and a nice toffee like finishand a hint of cocoa with the malt in the finish.

The body is medium full with a medium full mouthfeel, low to medium carbonation and a touch of astringency.

Overall, I find this to be a complex and pleasent wonter warmer, if a bit lacking in bigness and body.

Shopping at my local beer store last night, I found several Winter Warmers / Winter Ales that I've never seen before last night. This was the first of several reviews to come...

The ale poured a clear deep reddish brown, with a decent off-white head. The aroma was just amazing... even my wife was impressed by the smell (although she wasn't as happy with the taste)... scents of sweet caramel, toasted nuts, even a little coffee and cocoa aroma in there. The taste was not nearly as sweet as the aroma: rich but not too sweet malt, followed by a combination of dark roasted coffee, burnt sugar, a hint of unsweetened chocolate and a full presence of both bitter and spicy hops which carries through the finish. Potent dark bitter flavors, though not so bitter as to not be enjoyable. In my perfect winter ale, there would be a little more sweetness up front to balance the bitter, with a taste to match the aroma of this one. Still, an enjoyable seasonal that I'll definitely pick up again.

This brew is a relatively clear ruby color with slight shades of brown…the head is small and uninteresting. The smell is a nice mix of caramel, toffee, toasted malt, and an inviting roastedness. There’s also a hint of honey, butterscotch, and a fleeting fruitiness. No alcohol presence or warming. Medium body and a slight sweetness. It’s easy to drink, and respectably good, but this one just didn’t grab my attention.

After being impressed by Grant's Lazy Days summer ale, I was curious and hopeful to try the winter. It poured a deep amber, with fine soft head and nitroesque lacing. The aroma was mild, but the beer is full of character without becoming ingratiating. There's a ton of brown sugar, with some smoke and caramel, nuts, a coffee roastiness, and a graham cracker-y English malt quality. The hops are similarly English, mostly herbal and subdued, but neatly pinching the tongue as the beer rolls across it. The mouthfeel is ridiculously smooth, and the finish is wet, with a slightly charred aftertaste to compensate for the sweetness. This is a very good beer, and while it's probably too sweet for session drinking, a single pint of this will make your winter that much warmer.

2004 Release. Dull copper hue, with some ruby red highlights; a ½ inch tan head that maintains its form nicely, sheets of tan lacing as well. The nose has toasted malts, honey and caramel. Sweet honey and malt detection up front, with hints of chocolate, cocoa and anise. Roasted barley and oats, biscuit like flavoring shape out the body. A come and go tease of winter spices, just a bit watered down, perhaps taking away the not-yet developed spices. Decent, yet lacks the flavoring to be classified as a true winter warmer.

Coppery red pour. Amber in the middle when held to light. Small, compact tan head holds together well. No lacing.

Aroma is of red delicious apples, biscuit, and straight bittering hops. More fruitiness ensues. It is quite pungent in comparison to the actual flavor.

Taste is much sweeter than the smell and lighter. Notes of toffee then chocolate come out at first. There's a peanut base in there and I notice the honey mentioned on the bottle. Hops seem to be really clean and smooth. They also might be slightly spicy but not really bitter and they don't come forth until the finish. This must be a slightly lower abv beer and there's not much in the way of spices either which makes it a little suspect as a winter warmer type beer.

The body is medium but not really robust which I'm expecting with the chocolate flavor. This is really smooth and easy drinking however which I like a lot.

Easy to drink with a good depth of flavors but still not the beer I was looking for. Good but as with the Imp. Stout, the style thing gets me a little.

Presentation: 12 oz short bottle with twist off cap. Short blurb about the beer and the brewery. No freshness info.

Appearance: Poured dark mahongany with a nice thick tan colored head. Head left nice lacing as it subsided.

Smell: Aroma of coffee and spices. Slight notes of hops.

Taste: Comes across like a porter - some taste of chocolate, very slight hop bitterness in the finish. Smooth creamy mouthfeel.

Overall Impression: Nice winter beer. Drinkable enough to enjoy a few after a hard day of skiing.

12/17/04- Given to me as part of a 10 pk of winter ales purchased from Trader Joes in San Mateo, CA

Presentation- 12 oz bottle poured into my Duvel glass. No expiration date listed.

Appearance- Small 1/2 inch head that slowly evaporated. A drak red/amber pour, very light lacing.

Smell- I totally smelled massive amounts of coffee grounds. Maybe some spices and some toffee and chocolate also.

Taste- This was full on like drinking an iced coffee. After reading the other reviews I can't believe this wasn't the overwhelming response. Maybe I got a different batch. Tons by tons of coffee. Even my buddy and my girlfriend tried it and said the same thing. My buddy said it was like just sticking your mouth in a can of folgers crystals. There is some light chocolate involved and some toffee also. It says it is brewed with honey, but I couldn't really make any of that out.

Mouthfeel- Nice average to low carbonation level and very creamy. Kinda like a milk stout creaminess. Very easy went down my gullet.

Drinkability- I need to find this again. This would be a damn good beer to have while sitting at a ski resort while taking a break from the slopes. A good beer for liquid courage before heading down the black diamonds. Excellent brew with a very different taste.

This beer pours a deep ruby color, almost brown, with a finger of head that falls to coat the beer. The nose is a mix of chocolate, caramelized sugar and a hint of piney hops. Not bad. The flavor is a little chocolate, a little caramel, not a whole lot of hop. Not exactly what I expected, but its not bad. The feel is moderately thick, not really coating my mouth, but with a bit of body to it. The drinkability is fairly good too. The flavor could be a little more hoppy and a little more bold. Overall, not a bad beer.

12oz. bottle poured into a nonick pint glass. It pours a deep cola color with two fingers of light tan head. There is a little bit of lacing left on the glass. The smell is malty with some cocoa powder, vanilla, and toffee in there. Fairly sweet overall. The taste has lots of roasted malt and espresso bitterness up front, before turning slightly sweet with a hint of chocolate. The mouthfeel is just a little light and watery. The drinkability is fairly nice though. A decent winter brew.

Split sample from a 12 oz brown bottle.

Arrives into the half pint glass with a tall brown head with a dark brown body and bright ruby highlights.

Aroma is nutty and lightly spiced with hints of oxidation hiding behind a light flowery honey note.

Flavor is a first spicy with cloves, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg flooding the palate, driven by a large CO2 outgassing. Spices lead to an earthy dry finish on what is other wise a slightly roasted brown malt landscape.

I am sampling a chilled beer in a flute glass. The brew pours a rich clear mahogany color with some ruby tints mixed in.
Nice fluffy beige head is prevelant early and builds to about 2 cm and then fades gradually.
Aroma is rich chocolate, brown sugar, and some light grassy hop scents.
First sip is slightly thicker than average body with medium carbonation. Flavor is chocolate with some toffee and brief hit of piney hop flavor, all is overwhelmed by the chocolatey finish.
A nice and smooth beer with no hint of alcohol anywhere. I would buy this again.