Brooklyn Winter Ale (2006 and later)

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

This bottle has been carefully cellared for several years, so the review will be atypical compared to fresh. Cloudy brown with a lace doily on top. Smells of sweet dark fruit, caramel and maybe molasses, just a little tart. Raisin sweet flavor but retains a nice bitter note, perhaps from an earthy spice such as cinnamon. This one ages well. A little boozy. Tingle is alive & prickly, leaves some lacing, slick but heavy.

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

A murky brown color with a beige head. Aroma contains some caramel, brown sugar, and must. The flavor is malty with some sour notes. I’m getting some caramel, biscuit, citrus. The aftertaste is somewhat sour with a malty caramel presence. They do better. Bleh.

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

Wasn't too impressed with this. I usually like winter ales more than summer sessions, but I may prefer their summer brew over this. Labeled as a Scottish Ale, but a little light for that. Still has that sweetness, but has more of a lager texture to it. Grabbed on tap at a local taproom, so maybe compromised a bit. Might try colder in a bottle, but don't think it would matter much.

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

Pours a somewhat cloudy dark amber with a white head that disappears quickly. Aroma is fairly sweet and fruity. taste is of caramel malts and light hops. Somewhat spicy ending and noticeably dry. Metallic also. Not bad.

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

Copper pour, nice white head, some lacing. Earthy sweet and malty aroma, some toffee, very slightly nutty, hint of butterscotch - in a good way - hint of smoke, earthy hops. Taste is pleasant enough, malty and sweet, lightly smoky and nutty, interesting bitter linger. Could drink a lot of these.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

A dark, richly reddish amber colored beer. A big creamy textured off white rises above. Some hang time. Disappears leaving no lacing. In that a disappointment. A wintery spice and bready malt in the nose. Medium to full bodied. Creamy on the tongue. Brisk carbonation. The flavors are a perfect dance of grassiness, sweet malt, nuts, spice and fruit. Overall a HIT!

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

Not much in the aroma, appearance a dark copper color, minimal head and lace. Flavors of brown sugar caramel malts, butterscotch, with a small hop bite. Overall it was o.k., but Brooklyn puts out better than this.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 6

I haven't had too much of the Brooklyn products over the years. Being a huge Red Sox fan, something about the name of Brooklyn strikes me as a turnoff. Sounds stupid, but that's me. Haha. Anyways, I was on a winter beer kick and decided to pick up a single Brooklyn Winter Ale from the store for a sampling.

I poured this one into my pint glass and the first thing I noticed was the very small head. The head was thin and wispy across the top of the beer and this was even with a vigorous pour. The beer is clear and dark brown in color. The beer does have a decent aroma though of malts and alcohol. In fact, the aroma is fairly sweet smelling and pretty inviting.

When drinking the beer, the first thing I noticed was that this is pretty watery for a Scottish or winter ale. I was kinda hoping for something with a little more viscosity to it. The flavors weren't that bad though. Sweet malts, caramel, a slight spiciness, and a hint of alcohol, blend well to make this a fairly drinkable beverage.

Overall, I'm thinking this isn't a bad attempt at crafting a winter beer, but it wasn't great. I just wish there was a little more heartiness to it. Maybe this beer is hearty to the folks of Brooklyn and I'm being too hard on them. Wouldn't be the first time I call out a Brooklyner and probably won't be the last. :)

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

Dark copper body with hints of red showing through a thick film of tan foam sits on top and left behind descent lacing. Aroma is warm and cozy with fresh backed banana bread and the slightest hint of spice, aroma finishes slightly sour. Taste is also very warm and festive, bread pudding with rum sauce, slight sourness, cloves, and has a dark bitter aftertaste. The warmer my beer became the spicier it got. Mouth feel is smooth and medium bodied. Taste is good and complex but not wowing me I am however finding this very enjoyable to drink. The mark I gave of 3.6 seems to high this feels like a 3.2 but that is what my totals gave it.

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

K, I just bought this so I'll claim this is a 2007 version. I think I'm slowly learning that most beers in the Scottish Ale category don't really appeal to me although this one is an obvious depart from the norm.
Mahogany coloured brew, small off white crown with little retention and a small amount of slippery spotty lacing. Heavy malts and weak smoke... man, you know it's all malts. There is a spice aroma that is not all that hidden. I don't like this flavour. There is a hop taste that is very quiet but is just enough to be noticable and I really don't like it. Sweet and harsh at the same time is not a good combination. Peaty and annoying semi-bitter hops. Almost medium bodied, does have a bit of a watery characteristic to it, odd bitterness - almost has a sour hint to it. I don't like this at all but I don't have much of a problem drinking it.