7/29/2023 0 Comments Harpoon winter beer![]() This 7.5 percent ABV fragrant winter seasonal features a bevy of aromas ranging from cocoa to coconut and the flavor backs it up. This 7.1 percent ABV brew is dark and strong, with “big malt flavors,” according to the brewery. Winter Solstice is available October through January. It has an ABV of 6.9 percent and pairs well with pumpkin pie and aged cheddar. This smooth beer has notes of toffee, spice and caramel. ![]() This 6.7 percent ABV beer is available October through December and tastes of toffee and “dusted cocoa.” Drinkers describe it as big and bold, with notes of cherry and banana. It tastes of toasted malt and has notes of caramel and black cherry. The 6.2 percent ABV beer is made with English and German hops balanced by roasted and pale malts. It has been a New England favorite since 1988, and has a sweet, mildly spicy finish. This 5.9 percent ABV seasonal beer features cinnamon and nutmeg flavors. Here are 15 delicious Winter Warmers arranged by ABV, from lowest to highest. The family of winter warmers brings together brews of many colors and backgrounds: seasonal winter beers, barrel-aged dark beers, imperial stouts, spiced dark ales, bocks, doppelbocks and quadrupels. In addition, this group of beers do not make up a category judged at the Great American Beer Festival. The category of winter warmers is not clearly defined. With warm apples and ginger mixed in, they fortified holiday carolers traveling in groups on cold winter nights. The winter warmer “relatives” began as wassail beer alcoholic punches in medieval England. Winter warmers are not Christmas beers and wassail ales, but they are cousins. The range of winter warmers varies considerably, but most are close in type to an English Strong Ale. They’re the opposite of crisp, bitter summer beers. Winter warmers are viscous, feature a full mouthfeel and have a medium body. This type of beer also requires a good balance of malt and hops. A winter warmer requires far fewer hops than an IPA. Malts are the key to creating a winter warmer. They can be made with a wide variety of spices, including vanilla, star anise, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. These beers range in color from dark red to deep black. While most winter warmers have an ABV between 5.5 and 8.9 percent, a few have an ABV of 10 percent or more. These beers are excellent complements to seasonal delicacies like holiday roasts, spiced cakes and caramelized root vegetables. However, if cinnamon and nutmeg are two of your favorite things…then it’s possible this may become one of your favorite seasonal brews.Winter warmers are sweet, strong brews meant to carry you through the dark months of the year. Sadly the addition of liquid spices to this particular beer make the smell nothing short of fantastic but pollutes the balance of this beer making it much too spicy. Other brewers do not like to use liquid spices do their nature to be overly strong. Harpoon used to use traditional spices in this beer but due to the complaints of too much sediment in the bottle Harpoon switched to liquid spices. If you look at some of the other reviews of this beer online you will notice there are quite a lot negative reviews due the overwhelming spices. Thoughts: This would be one of my favorite winter craft ales if it wasn’t for the taste-bud numbing cinnamon. The beer ends with a soft hoppy bite and some alcohol flavors. Once you wade through the spices you find a little bit of sweetness from the malts and a hint of nutmeg. The cinnamon spiciness is almost overwhelming…quite disappointing. Initial Taste:Well those spices we smelled definitely carry over into the flavor of this beer. They hit the nail on the head with the bouquet of this one. Mainly it smells like gingerbread, nutmeg and cinnamon. As strange as it may sound this beer reminded us of the Christmas season. Smell: I can sum this up in one word Christmas. The head lasted OK and left little to no lacing. Appearance: This winter ale pours a rich chestnut color with a one finger thick light tan head.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |