John Henry Colonial Cream & Brown Ale

Brewed by Cold Spring Brewery
Style: American Strong Ale
Cold Spring, Minnesota USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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Bomber. Low hopes for this one and it really over performed the low expectations. Dark iced tea pour with decent white head and plenty of lacing. Nose mainly of sweet malt, dark fruit, and yeast. Similar tons Dubbel. Taste is mainly dark fruit, and candied sugar. I do pick up some very faint brandy but I am guessing that is only due to the label. Very little wood notes. Good effort. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Pours a dark soda brown but has a murky red hue when held up to light. Minimal tan head with a fair amount of lacing. Definitely pick up the brandy in the aroma along with cherries, oak, dates, caramel and candy sugar. Taste is strong alcohol up front with a bit of fruity sweetness, oak, and candy sugar. Pronounced, long finish with dark fruits and alcohol. Not unlike some lower-end Belgian beers. Full bodied with a thick texture and average carbonation. Not sure where the cream ale and the brown ale are. Tastes more like a cross between a scotch ale and a Belgian. Not bad, but ultimately nothing special.

The aroma is nutty, brown sugar, light chocolate. The appearance is slightly translucent brown, off-white head. The flavor is nuts, brown sugar, vanilla, light pine hops. The finish is pine, resin, wood. No brandy really. Just a slight booze warming on the end. Medium in body, slightly thick. Nice.

Bottle. Pours a pale amber color with a small off-white head. Has a fruity malty spicy caramel aroma. Fruity malty caramel flavor with weak oaky hints. Has a fruity malty spicy oaky caramel finish.

750mL bottle. Poured clear, deeper amber with a dark beige head. The aroma picked up sweet, toasty oak and some brandy over nutty malts and a touch of buttery character.. brandy warmth on the back of the nose. The flavor found caramel, vanilla, bread, and nutty notes at the core, with tangy, dry oak, brandy, and peppery alcohol around.. mostly nutty notes and slightly vinous barrel on the long, dry finish.. a tad too sharp at the end. Medium-bodied and quite barrel-y on the palate.. could’ve used a bit more smoothness from the cream ale component, but otherwise alright.

Poured from 750ml bottle. Pours cola brown with thin creamy head. Aroma is fairly typical of a brown. I don’t get any of the oak spirals on the nose. The taste is malty with some cream ale notes. I still don’t taste any of the oak. Decent beer.

16 apr 2013, bottle, one year old. Light brown, hazy. Nose is apricots, soft but slightly abrasive alcohol, honey, maybe granola malt. Not a bold nose at all. Med body and fizzy. Tastes and feels like a barley wine, not a cream ale. Big alcohol taste and some burn, raisins, bitter resin finish, winey notes. Really big. I like it. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

This was the most successful of the three John Henry’s spiral oak bottles I sampled, but that’s not saying much. There’s a little woodiness and brandy, with a simple maltiness and cream palate--as expected. But the underlying beer isn’t that good and the oak spirals can’t help that much. Bottle.

Aroma is spiced vanilla/sweet bread and malts. The flavor is medium sweetness, vanilla, mild spices, bread and a warming alcoholic finish.

reddish-brown with a lot of sediment. head is thin, light brown. aroma is woody, slightly buttery. flavor is bit of caramel, brandy, raisin.