Alaskan Brewing Winter Ale

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Clear amber, no foam remaining. Not too strong in aroma, but nice taste. Light carmale, some barley, bit sweet. Old Ale adding to my list, whoopie. (Houston 201605)

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

The beer pours an amber color with a white head, that leaves some decent lace. The aroma is full of honey, dark fruit, toffee, caramel and a hint of alcohol. The flavor is similar. The spruce comes through in the flavor, adding a bit of a herbal, minty quality. I also get some honey and the associated sweetness. The alcohol is present in the backside, but the beer is still easy to drink. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation. A nice winter beer

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

A clean, soapy, piney sort of smell to a nice looking clear orange beer but not much on head. Interesting flavor with the spruce, but much sweeter than I would expect, almost too sweet.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

Pours a darker straw yellow with a bubbly white head that goes down pretty fast. Aroma is of malts and a light hint of pine. This is a very carbonated beer. Taste is fairly light but thick, consisting of a nice spiced flavors that is not too intense. Texture reminds me of the Alaskan Amber with some wintery spices added. Not bad at all, in fact I enjoyed it.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Pours crystal clear, golden amber, carbonated, and with a small amount of head that disappears quickly. The aroma consists of a bready malt, and spruce. The taste has the spruce sentiment carry over into the flavors, bringing a candy flavor into the profile that is unique. While being very rich, this beer is really balanced, and definitely warming. A nice spice in the profile, and plenty of malt to fill the belly. The bitter aftertaste compliments the malty/esther flavor of the initial taste.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Brown colored with a note of ruby. Not much for head but a bit of lacin from what's there. Transparent. Smells a bit like bitter syrup. Some slight corn. Light bodied. Malty like crackers and dense biscuits. Drinkable.

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 5

Pour with very little foam, but a decent amber color. Not very aromatic. Mostly malty, hints of apricot, a little grassy and some of the spruce tips coming through. Medium body and moderate smoothness. Starts out a little sweet and peppery but dries in the finish. Becomes more fruity and full of honey as the beer warms. Pretty easy to drink, but not all that exciting to me and doesn't live up to the winter ale expectation.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

One of my favorites from Alaskan Brewing and it’s easy to plunk down the money for a 6-12 pack because I know that I’m getting something really nice, for a good price. The beer pours out a beautiful golden orange body, almost bronze like, with a average looking frothy white top. Aroma is spruce tips, warm caramel chews, and honey. Some times the aroma reminds me of a early spring bloom...floral, kinda musty..sweet...like smelling a flower. Flavor has some clear cut sweetness to it, mostly like a sweet cereal or honey flavor. There’s the obvous spice/pepper notes that really mesh well with the malts. Maybe I’m getting pepper from the spruce tips, but it finishes with a peppery note. Not the greatest from AB, but really really nice

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 5

I keep getting disappointed by Alaskan’s beers. They seem to feel a bit out of whack. This beer tastes somewhat like spruce, but it’s not an altogether pleasant taste and I don’t really get why it’s there. The beer isn’t rich or balanced enough to take on the spruce flavor. Alaskan calls it an English old ale, which sets it up for some unfortunate comparisons as there are some very big and excellent old ales out there. That’s a refined category of subtle, hand-crafted ales. This beer is none of those things. Oh, it’s not a bad beer. It just borders on mediocrity. There’s some sweet malt and some mild hops with a touch of spice. Nothing really comes together, though. The taste is not balanced to begin with, and the spruce just further knocks things off course. The individual flavors are all pretty good. They just don’t really work together for my palate. This beer is trying too hard at being a winter seasonal and needs to work on just being good beer.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

It pours a burnt-orange/amber with thin tan head and copious lace. Sweet aroma of caramel malts, light hops, citrus, and mild spices. The mouthfeel is smooth, rich, and full-bodied. Flavors of roasted malts, light hops, banana, limes, and mild spices. Tasty and smooth.