Great Lakes Brewing Winter Ale

Spicey, pit fruit aroma, auburn, tiniest of heads. Some of the flavours are allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardomum, brazil nuts, and christmas pudding. Medium bodied, very complex really well balanced. Terrific! Very impressive offering, keep up the good work. Thank You Ralph.

Veyr good but too sweet and that made it too alcoholic for me. It was nic einc olour and shape, and nice foam.

[139-20061209] Bottle. Sweeeeet cookie icing, almost floral scent. Clear, brown body with no bubbles and an off-white head. Spicy (but not hot) flavour with background notes of ginger, cinnamon, plum, pot-pourri and a little Christmas pudding. Medium body with a nice feel. Very interesting complex flavour and not too thick. (8/3/7/3/14) 3.5

[990B-20071217] Tap @ C’est What (Toronto, ON). Cinnamon and ginger aroma has a hint of apple Life-Saver candies. Clear, dark red brown body with quick off-white bubbles. Flowery apple cinnamon and mild spices flavour. Medium body is a little watered down but still has an astringent finish. Nice, winter theme definitely present. (8/2/7/2/14) 3.3

On tap at Bar Volo. Served in an English Pint with an overwhelming white head. Smell was somewhat floral with a minimal hint of bread. Mouthfeel was fairly thin. Taste was of orange peel and mostly doughy yeast. Nothing really complex here. A decent beer, not something I would prefer to drink twice, but could.

Tap at C’est. Reddish-brown with a small head. Smells vaguely of fruit and spice with forward malts and a decently dry finish. A little bit on the generic side, not enough body or overall flavour to really bring home the theme. No major flaws, at least.

Smells of sweet sweet banana. Golden brown in colour. Weak dissipating head. banana in flavour, much like that banana medication (you know the stuff) with a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Strangely sweet aftertaste. A very nice dessert beer.

Draught at Bar Volo - came a deep amber brown, with a small tan head on top. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flavour-wise when I ordered it, but the aroma immediately let me know - cinnamon, spice, darker malts, caramel...anyways, very spicy. The flavour was a much bigger hit of cinnamon off the top, followed by orange, ginger, malt sweetness with only a faint trace of hops in the finish. Nice stuff, but I started to find it a bit too cloying by the later part of the glass. Still, very unique and enjoyable and it’s fantastic to see Great Lakes with this spirit of adventure with their new seasonal brews. I hope it continues on well into the future.

RE RATE FOR 2008 BOTTLING nice balanced enjoyably sweet spice-cake beer with wonderful body and balance - totally worth picking up ---- ORIGINAL RATING / 8 4 7 2 9 = 3.0 --- Bar Volo, Draught. I had no idea this was a spiced ale when I drank it, but I truthfully found it a bit in-my-face. Not the spiciness so much as the overall sense of palate fatigue, from the first sip to the fighting finish. Maybe there is an acidity or a hop type that doesn’t agree with me. The quality is there for sure, this just wasn’t for me.