Brooklyn Winter Ale (2006 and later)

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

Tampa Tuesday tasting night – blind tasting, courtesy of Degarth. Pours brown with tan head. The aroma is full with rich caramel, mild peat and earthiness. Solid smelling ale in my opinion albeit a bit too mild. The taste is caramel heavy with caramel candy, mild earthiness and peat. The body is a bit thin. Tasty brew.

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 5

Bottle: Poured a copper color with a thin white head. Aroma is light malts. Taste is sweet malt and yet has a bitter metallic taste. I almost believe this bottle was on the old side.

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. :)