Gearys Winter Ale

Brewed by D.L. Gearys Brewing Co.
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Portland, Maine USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

Pours a moderate amber-brown color with an off-white head and some light lacing. The nose carries some caramel and a bit of toffee. Some bready malt in the background. Light vanilla. Not sure this was much of an EIPA. Either way, I appreciated the light malt character throughout. Almost like a barleywine-light. Maybe a faded bottle already? Either way, fairly enjoyable. Caramel and bread through the flavor. Medium body with a pleasant chewiness. Not fantastic or out of the ordinary, but a well-made brew.

Draught at Rattle ’N’ Hum, as part of a flight of beers, on January 30, 2012
Clear dark copper color, off-white head. Sweet, nutty, hair product, brown sirup taste. Nutty aftertaste. Moussy mouthfeel, medium dry bitterness. Sweet, nutty scent.

Would have never guest IPA.Pours dark brown with amber tones small tan head.Aromas of caramel and malts.Starts out sweet and malty and finishes a little bitter with a light hop note.

12oz bottle. It pours a nice clear amber with a fast fading white head. The aroma is an even mix of doughy malt and floral hops. Flavor has sweet caramel and fresh bread coming through in the malt. A good herbal quality that lasts throughout. Along with grapefruity, light tea-like and lemony sour bitterness. Not very winter brewish.

Location: Draft at RnH, 2/19/11

Aroma: Oddly, this one smells just like a Werther’s Original, no other way to describe it
Appearance: The pour is kind of a bronze color with an off-white head
Flavor: The taste is basically metallic flavors plus butterscotch candy
Palate: The body is overly carbonated and it has a lasting metallic finish to it
Overall Impression: This is one weird beer. Honestly, it’s a kinda on the sucky side. I can’t get over the fact that it’s pretty much just like a Werther’s Original with metal. Beer shouldn’t taste like that. It’s too weird!

On tap. I’m guessing I got the wrong beer. My beer was dark amber with a thick tan head. Winter seasonings and a chocolately flavor. Smooth mouthfeel. It hit me hard, so I guess the alcohol was over 6. Looking back over the tap selection, I might have gotten a Weyerbacher Winter. That would explain the malty chocolatyness and color. So I guess I’ll need to have both beers now to see which is which!

12 oz. bottle. Pours an orange gold color, with decent sized off white foam head. Aroma of mint, dough, york peppermint. Kind of a york peppermint flavor with a metallic, watery hoppyness on the finish. I fail to see how this is an IPA. Not the worst beer, but not an IPA.

THOUGHTS: I was a little scared that this would be skunked because the bottle was very dusty, but it wasn’t. It might have been a little old, but not by much. Not as good as Sierra Nevada’s hoppy holiday offering, but still nice, It didn’t really taste like a winter beer, but there was a slight warming effect. Some dark sediment made me want to try a fresher bottle next year. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a murky, light to medium orange with a large to huge, rocky, somewhat meringue looking, ever so slightly off-white head that slowly, but mostly diminished and left good to fair lacing. It also had medium sized particles in the body of a thin density. The aroma was light toasted malt and cracker; moderate to heavy floral and perfumy hops; light yeast; apricot and peach. The initial flavor was slightly sweet, acidic and bitter; while the finish was lightly sweet, rather bitter and acidic with a long duration. There was slight honey-like malt, cracker, oranges, peaches, floral hops, yeast, apricot and wine. The light to medium body was fairly dry with fizzy carbonation and a lightly metallic, chalky, ever so slightly astringent and very dry finish.