Redhook Winterhook

Brewed by Redhook Brewery
Style: English Strong Ale
Woodinville, Washington USA

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

This is a nice beer. Good deep amber in color with a two finger semi creamy froth. Decent head retention with a lingering canopy to look at. Medium nectar w/ good carbonation that comes out on the palate and lays alomost creamy. A good fresh and fruity malt profile balanced by a defined spicey hop component that sticks to the end. Flavors of mildly spiced cherry fruit show forward. The finish is fruity and bittered nicely with citrus rind. I’m not sure if this really is a strong english ale. and the commercial description is way off. HOw can you have rich and hearty then say clean and dry ? Rediculous! This is a nice complex beer deserving a better score.

From a bottle poured a nice amber/brown color with a fair amount of head. Nice rich hoppy flavor with a good finish.

Had this one on draught at Scotland Yard in St. Charles, Illinois. Clear, deep copper color with a thick, orangy-tan head, wonderful nutty and hoppy aroma, a bit of clove and allspice; sweet, piney hops, balanced with nutty maltiness. Mild and bitter finish. Really good, but pricey.

Draft at the Woodinville brewpub. Crystal clear toffeeish amber with scant gray head. Musty, sweaty, bready nose. Medium body, very little carb. Mild. Roasty, toasty brown bread on the mid-palate, and sour in an almost rye-like way. Are they using a central keg line back there or something? Not much finish. Company says it "tastes like watered-down whiskey."

In typical Red Hook fashion, nothing on the label of this beer or its six-pack, which I thankfully did not have to buy, tells anything about what this beer is supposed to be. They just figure that the Bud distributors will throw it into the supermarkets, and Joe Schmoe who doesn’t know any better, but knows enough to want better than Buttwiper, will buy it because it says winter, so it must be a winter micro brew. Reddish copper color. Absolutely deviod of aroma or flavor, not to mention character of any kind. I hope my drain won’t be offended.

This is a good looking beer. The taste is not overpowering, but a strong, malty flavor definitely comes out. I don’t know what kind of hops they used but I would prefer something different.

not a bad beer, but for an english strong ale, there’s just not enough to taste. it’s rather piney tasting but there’s a nice cascade hop smell and it’s a pretty beer to look at. bottle from mollie stones palo alto, ca

Bottle. Copper and translucent. Not much in the realm of aroma. Faint hop aroma, maybe. The malt and hop flavor is light, what a let down. This one should not be a winter beer. It is neither rich nor hearty. The alcohol is too low and this beer does not deliver the winter goods.