JosephsBrau Winterfest

Pours very dark amber with off white head that goes away very quickly. Aroma is sweet stale malt - quite musty. Taste is roasted malt with vinegar, sour and slight hazelnut. Some dark fruit flavors come into the picture later but they have a very artifical flavor. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and very slick. Not a very good example of the style, adequate at best.

12 oz bottle consumed in the generous company of tiggmtl, MartinT and Rastacouere. Dark reddish-brown, fairly clear, with a thin receding dark head....uggh, vegetal/DMS nose is unpleasantly sour, milky and spoiled.....the body is equally dissapointing, sugary and grapy, dull with little caramel, again with the vegetal character and sour-milk/yogurt touches....thick and cloying and painful to drink. Nobody else at the tasting was crazy about this, but it just hit me in all the wrong places, near-trainwreck.

Any first impressions?
-A veil of head hangs onto the bright terracotta.
-The portentous pils malt vegetal character is overdone in the aroma.
-Fruity caramel and earthy pils malt friendliness conjure up pleasant moments.
-The prickly carbonation is rather quiet within the maltiness.

What if you dig deeper?
-Watery passages disappoint.
-Grassy hops appear in the last half, accompanied by hay.
-Alcohol is a no show.
-A decent doppelbock, but never near the top tiers.

Bottle; no date.

Small frothy head. Deep red color, band aid grain nose. Nice caramel toffee and nuts taste - medium intense. Sweet but not overly sweet. Thanks a lot to Saarlander!!!

12 0z bottle. Deep brown in color with a tan head. Malty and sweet candi sugar aroma. Caramel notes. Flavor is malty and very sweet. Smooth tasting. Finish is sweet. Nice beer.

12 oz bottle. Brown with a small head. Aroma is molasses and candi sugar. Taste is very malty and very sweet with a bit of sacharrin. The body is smooth with even more sweetness. This stuff is sweet. Did I say sweet yet? Sweet!

Very small head from strong pour. Choclately and carmel aroma and taste which was very pleasant. Dark brownish red color. Very malty taste with minimal but noticable hops character. Rerate: I bought a six pack at trader joes and the first one tasted pretty descent, but after that each bottle got harder and harder to finish. I kept noticing a metallic taste that just turned me off.

Gift from JMerritt. Aroma was sweet chocolate with some other spices that I couldn’t pick out. Pours dark brown with a nice off-white head. Really good taste with chocolate winning out.