Great Lakes Brewing Winter Ale

Bottle.
Gold amber with light brown, medium creamy top.
Aroma: creamy, milky with berry and fruits. Sweet.
Spiced with ginger, vanilla extract and nutmeg. Medium bodied. Decent attempt on holiday theme. Its good local breweries expanding their repertoire.

Bottle (650ml). at Decemberfest 2006 - R’s bottle. Poured clear ruby with a small tan head. Pleasing, fresh aroma of generic grainy roast malt, caramel, mild peppery sweet spice. The taste was much the same, only the sweet spice didn’t emerge as much as I’d hoped - mostly just light roast malt. The mouthfeel was entirely "ehh" - not overly watery, but unimpressive body, a little sweeter than I’d like - it could use either more alcohol or more yeast/spice ... but an excellent step in the right direction for this brewery. ** update - had this again on draught at Volo and it came through with more body and bolder spice character - I’m re-rating and boosting its score (was 6+3+6+3+11=2.9)

December 2007. Draft at C;est What. Ruby brown body with a small off white / beige head. Sweet spicy flavour with a nutmeg (?) starter, with a lingering cinnamon finish. Sweet underlying malt charact. Softly spicy aroma with a sweet spicy profile reminiscent of pumpkin pie or ginger bread. Spice builds on the tongue as you quaff, and lingers long into the aftertaste. Palate is on the fuller side of average. (3+) Very nice, flavourful yet quite drinkable as well. 7/3/7/3+/15 - 3.5

December 2006. Draft at C’est What. Ruddy brown with a small tan head and decent lacing (3+). Sweet malt aroma with muted spice. ( a bit like a less pungent Anchor OSA. I thought nutmeg but based on the description I guess it was cinnamon and ginger) Similar flavour, moderately sweet malt has very lightly earthy notes and moderate spice character. Average palate. Pretty solid quaff, but could use a bit more depth to take it to the next level. 7/4/7/3/14 - 3.5

A full mouthfeel malty concoction, spices and citrus are quite the secondary. Fresh, I was the first on Ralph’s tap and nice drinking,

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.