Great Waters Winter Ale

Formerly brewed at Great Waters Brewing
Style: Brown Ale
St. Paul, Minnesota USA

Serve in Dimpled mug

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This is suppose to be an IPA in the order of Sierra Neveda’s Celebration- On-cask at the brewpub: A deeply musted dark coppery brown with a reddish undertone to its body. Huge and lofty, puffy, creamy laden capping tops it off that hardly ever moves from its position. One impressive cap on this sucker, it lasted til the very last sip. Aroma is deep, dark, mushy, and mildly woodish. Mushy cardboard becomes fairly evident as some slight citric notes barely push through. Taste is a mess of cardboard mushy wood stuff, no real tone is set. some slight toffee toastedness kinda creeps in over a bland puree of weakened grainy malt backing. Very light hints to citrus try to come into the finish, but its a mess of woody mush and grains. Feel is a little light, even from cask this seemed thin and desperate. It just doesn’t go anywhere. No real breaks in tone or character. Comes across as unfinished. Wasn’t nearly impressed with this IPA as some of the earlier concoctions from the new brewer. This was just to messy and boring.

Tap from December 2005. A dark reddish amber color with an off-white head. A nice spiced mint aroma with hints of apple and candy sugars. Much lighter than I would have expected but also nicely hopped. Rating from notes.

Deep crimson color, nice frothy head...looks nice... big, juicy hops in the nose...berries and cherries, feeling like a barleywine a bit, a little burgundy-ish... Makes a little nose in the mouth, spreads out hops and bitterness, leaving a juicy trail, but doesn’t hold together. Picks up power a bit, the more it’s on the palate, hanging onto to the senses tighter, ...hop bitterness gets more bite, but it all fades off a bit in the end. Ample malt. Tangy, but not solid enough to make an real impression. Full bodied, but lacking in depth. This is starting to remind me of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, but, as I said before, it lacks the same impact. Nice try, though. I’d be interested in trying this on regular tap, as I don’t think the cask showed it off very well.

Hoppy grapefruit aroma, citric with a little hazlenut and a touch of vegetation. Heavily malty character in the mouth, with malt residuals helping out the palate. Clear bronze, irregular head formation. Steady as she goes with this brewer--everything is done very competently here. (handpulled cask at brewpub)

Cask. Dark copper color with a medium head. Decent malt aroma, but it leans more to a grainy hodge-podge with a vaugely sweet finish. Taste is more of the grains and the sweet is revealed to be caramel. Not sure of the alcohol, but it strikes me as a flavorful session.