Garrison Winter Warmer

Brewed by Garrison Brewing Company
Style: English Strong Ale
Halifax, Canada

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

500 mL bottle. Cloudy amber-orange with a small, pale, orange head. Malty-spicy aroma focusses on toasted caramel, cinnamon, nutmeg, cola, and a hint of orange. It’s all there in the flavour as well, although more loosely defined, and there is a mildly spicy-bitter finish. Decent body and carbonation. More drinkable than some others, in that the spicing is not overwhelming.

Bottle 500 ml
Aroma frontal hint of chocolate , raisin, brown sugar and alcohol. Wrap of plumes.
Appearance clear, brown with light of dark amber. Lighter off white top.
Flavor and Palate : frontal plum, prune jam with fruity sugars. Mid accented by warmth of alcohol. Finish hinted by ginger and nutmeg.

500ml bottle. Color: deep ruby, head: mocha, medium size, retention: medium, lacing: sporadic. Aroma: sweet caramel, sour cherry, herbal hops, coriander and cinnamon. Taste: sour at first, bitter after that, spicy, some sweetness, brown sugar, roasted malt, molasses. A nice brew.

The spice is mainly designated to the olfactory part of your bodily bus here, the taste is mainly that of a strong ale. The hotness is part of the mix in your throat, and it’s nice, I’d drink this while shovelling snow but sorry I live in Victoria so I can’t. I really enjoyed the thickness of this drink.

February 15, 2011. 500ml bottle shared by blankboy with me and garthicus. Deep copper, clear, with a solid tightly creamy tan head. Aroma is sweet and spicy, plenty of malt and yeast, definitely some alcohol in there, very much a winter beer with a bit of nutmeg and floral bitterness. The taste follows, slightly sharp, spicier and grainier, solid and not all that boozy. Thick body, soft carbonation, malty finish but dry from all the spice - liked it, had it again a year later and liked it the same. NOT a summer beer.

(500mL from the LCBO) Pours dark red with a fine particulate suspension and a thin white head that dissipated immediately. Aroma complex, dominated by brown sugar/molasses malts, but with dates, spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice), a bit of spiced rum, quite christmas cake-esque. Flavour is sweet malts up front, a bit of fruitiness, some chocolate, bit of yeasty funk comes up mid-palate and then moderately bitter hops dry down the beer quickly on the finish. Mouthfeel is weak to me, watery in the second half and over-carbonated with a soda-pop feel and a lack of structure and depth on the finish. Just doesn’t live up to the smell for me.

500mL bottle from LCBO. Aroma of sweet malt, a lot of spice, and a little smoke. Good looking deep ruby colour, clear, with a thin tan head. Taste is full of spice, with some roasty and evergreen notes. Slight bitter finish. Nice full body. A pretty good winter ale.

Bottle: Decants a turbid clouded brown colored ale with a 1 finger sticky cap. Soft carbonation obviously unfiltered. Aroma is a complex affair with spice up front and cocoa, earthiness, grains and some mellow ripe fruit esters and a treacle-like touch of sweetness....this intensifies as it warms. Flavor follows aroma with malty cocoa mixing with musty fruits spice and hazel nuts - complexity mid palate - hops add a wonderful support role and hang in the background so the complexity can be savoured. Finish is long wet and malty-yeasty with a small hop bite at the very end. I love this brew! The brewer resisted their normal impulse to over boil hops and the result is the profile on this ale is carried by the complex flavours that develop in a rich unfiltered big ale. I’m impressed. Probably this brewer’s best effort yet.

Pours a lovely dark ruby red, lot’s of aroma. Ginger, cinnamon, spiced rum. A bit of vanilla on the palate, but it doesn’t leave a lot on the palate.

Aroma is strongly of brown sugar, very sweet - intensely so. Some spices in there which i can’t identify at the moment. Deep clear and bubbly brown pour, with thin clingy head. Sweet with a very mild bitter finish. A little boozy, but not too much. Very nice winter beer.

It pours an amber colour with ruby highlights; the head is light-beige, fluffy, and dissipates quickly. The aroma has notes of: nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, fruitcake, rum, and slight toffee. The taste is light sweet that finishes abruptly; there are notes of: red-fruits, nutmeg, rum, and toffee. The palate is medium-light bodied, aqueous, and a slight bitter finish. Overall, lacks serious body.