Tag Archives: Winter Warmer

Craft Beer Advent Calendar - 2017

2017 Advent Calendar – Day 15 – Crazy Mountain Holiday Ale

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Crazy Mountain - Holiday Ale

I hope that everyone is excited for the weekend. Given that last weekend I was either sick or caring for a sick baby, I’m excited to have a full weekend of feeling well and enjoying time with family and friends. It’s a busy time of year for everyone. Holiday parties abound, visits with family, holiday trips and all the like. I just want to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy Holidays and to encourage you to be safe over this holiday season.

Today is day 15 of the craft beer advent calendar. It comes to us from Crazy Mountain Brewing Company out of Colorado. It is a Winter Warmer they’ve aptly called their Bridge Street Holiday Ale. It is a Winter Warmer that has been spiced using holiday spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger) as well as Maple Syrup.

Founded in 2010 by Kevin and Marisa Selvy, Crazy Mountain is the first production brewery to be opened in the Vail Valley and is headquartered in Edwards with a second location in the Bakers Neighbourhood of Denver.  The mountain lifestyle is pervasive in this brewery. They’ve been known to close shop early to hit the runs and bring a laid-back mindset to what they do. They are interested in making interesting and tasty beers without getting bogged down in the grind.

They’ve made a little video that talks about the brewery and I encourage you to take a watch rather then read me write about it. You can find that here.

The style today is a Winter Warmer. While not really a “style” Winter Warmers tend to fall under the British Strong Ale style. Even so, Winter Warmers are malty sweet offerings and tend to be a favorite winter seasonal. Big malt presence, both in flavor and body. The color ranges from brownish reds to nearly pitch black. Hop bitterness is generally low, leveled and balanced, but hop character can be pronounced. Alcohol warmth is not uncommon.

Many English versions contain no spices, though some brewers of spiced winter seasonal ales will slap “Winter Warmer” on the label. Those that are spiced, tend to follow the “wassail” tradition of blending robust ales with mixed spices, before hops became the chief “spice” in beer. The “American” varieties have a larger presence of hops both in bitterness and flavor. This Winter Warmer uses a variety of spices combined with maple syrup. I can expect it to have a nice spice presence with a pronounced sweetness.

Appearance – Pours the colour of caramel with a thin 1” head that leaves just a bit of froth on the top.
Smell – Those spice notes come through strong. All I get is the nutmeg, a bit of ginger, and tinge of cinnamon.
Taste – On the taste I get a slight astringent/metallic taste right on the front followed by a powerful ginger note. All I taste after that is a bitter ginger finish.
Mouth feel – Slightly metallic front, spice middle, and bitter finish.
Overall – While certainly a spiced ale, this one brings a bit too much of the spice and bit too little of the ale. While I get the carbonation, the subtle bitterness and slight caramel malt notes, the front and centre star is the ginger. While this is appropriate for a spiced beer, overall that’s pretty much all I get.
Do I like it? – I found this to be a bit too much on the spice front. I like spice in beer but not when it is the only taste you are really getting. Granted, this is a spiced beer, spice should be expected, but for me it wasn’t something I enjoyed.

 

Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2016

Day 19 – Wold Top – Shepherds Watch

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It’s been a pretty darn good year for beer here in Winnipeg this past year. We’ve seen a number of breweries open, the types of beers we are getting in the Liquor marts continue to expand, and we’ve got a lot more to look forward to in the next year. To top it off, this Advent Calendar has been the best one I’ve had.

Today we have a Winter Warmer from the UK. It’s Shepherd’s Watch brewed by farm based brewery Wold Top in Driffield, UK.

This isn’t the first time we’ve had a beer from Wold Top, but that isn’t any less exciting. Wold Top was founded in 2003 by farmers Tom and Gill Mellor. The brewery and farm are a family run business and is currently being run by the third and fourth generation of Mellors. Sitting on 600 acres of farmland, Wold Top focuses on brewing real ales and using tradition methods and quality ingredients. Being on a farm they have access to fresh ingredients that they are able to grow themselves. Those they can’t are only the highest quality.

They won best new brewery in 2003 and have continued to win awards for there beers over the years. Currently they have 21 beers that they brew and a solid team behind the brewing.

The style today is a Winter Warmer. While not really a “style” Winter Warmers tend to fall under the British Strong Ale style. Even so, Winter Warmers are malty sweet offerings and tend to be a favorite winter seasonal. Big malt presence, both in flavor and body. The color ranges from brownish reds to nearly pitch black. Hop bitterness is generally low, leveled and balanced, but hop character can be pronounced. Alcohol warmth is not uncommon.

Many English versions contain no spices, though some brewers of spiced winter seasonal ales will slap “Winter Warmer” on the label. Those that are spiced, tend to follow the “wassail” tradition of blending robust ales with mixed spices, before hops became the chief “spice” in beer. The “American” varieties have a larger presences of hops both in bitterness and flavor. This Winter Warmer is their “Canadian Edition” and so it could likely have a different approach.

Appearance – Pours dark brown with a 1” off-white head that fades quickly leaving slight lacing on glass.
Smell – Aroma is chocolate, caramel, and roasted malt.
Taste – Taste is sweet with subtle bitterness from roasted malt. There is a creamy caramel flavor to this as well as some subtle spice.
Mouth feel – Medium-full bodied with a slightly oily mouthfeel and soft carbonation.
Overall – Quite nice. There is no alcohol warmth to this beer but the spice and malt combination is very nice. The malty notes come through very nicely and this beer also seems to have a creamy note to it that suggests possible lactose or unfermentable sugar.
Do I like it? – Very nice. I like this style and I enjoyed this beer. I will note here that Barn Hammer has a Winter Ale out presently (Fur Trader) and Torque will have one out in January (Bumper Shine). So if you liked this, look for those.

 

 

Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2014

Craft Beer Advent Calendar – Day 1

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Beer 1

Today was a very exciting day.  It is the first day of the Beer Advent calendar.  I had the opportunity to open my first beer!  It actually felt a bit like Christmas morning.  Running down the stairs to see what had been left under the tree.  Only this time it wasn’t socks or underwear, but BEER.  I opened the first square on my calendar and pulled out the first beer.  Lo and behold it was a special beer made specifically for the Calendar. Gød Advent is a bottle of fantastic extra-strong (10%) Winter Ale from Norwegian brewery Nønge Ø!

This brewery, located in Grimstad on the southern coast of Norway about 232 km from Oslo, is the largest supplier of craft beer in Norway and the first brewer of sake in Europe.  The name, Nønge Ø, means “naked island”, a term used to describe the barren rocky outcroppings visible in the sea.  In 2013 it was acquired by Hansa Borg Bryggerier who own a family of regional breweries in Norway: Hansa, Borg and Christanssand Bryggeri.

Luckily the founder and head brewer who started Nønge Ø in 2003, Kjetil Jikiun, will maintain his position as head brewer.  His passion and uncompromising mind for quality is what has allowed this brewery to grow from 300 hectare liters up to 3500 hectare liters in only 7 years.  They produce over 20 different styles of ales and have a brilliant mind for flavor.

Now, onto the beer!

Gød Advent is a Winter Ale, also called a winter warmer.  These styles of beer are traditionally malty-sweet strong ales that are brewed for the winter months.  They are darker in color, not as dark as a stout, with a big malty presence. The alcohol content on these beers is typically quite high.  This one is at the high end of the spectrum almost entering barley wine territory.  You will often find these beers being spiced with traditional spices like nutmeg, cinnamon etc… but the real characteristic behind all these winter ales is that alcohol content.

Rating: 81/100

Appearance: Nut brown and cloudy ale with minimal head and low retention.
Smell: Caramel notes with hints of chocolate and an acrid sweet smell.
Taste: Starts off bitter and melds into smooth caramel notes and deep malt
Mouth feel: Coarse like sandpaper on the tongue with a smooth swallow.
Overall: Excellent winter ale.  Deep malty sweetness and not too overpowering despite 10%.
Do I like it: I am not usually a fan of winter ales as I prefer heavy hops to over heavy malt.  The balance of bitterness on the front end moving into the malty sweetness is fantastic.  I do like this beer.

What a great start to the beer advent calendar.  Not typically my favorite style of beer, but Nønge Ø did a really outstanding job.  I can’t wait to see what I get tomorrow!