Samuel Smiths Winter Welcome Ale

Bottle. Every Thanksgiving My family welcomes "the winter" over for dinner. A enjoyable ale with friends and family. But, Did you ever notice the change in undertones this ale goes through from year to year? Maybe it’s me.

2007-2008 bottle into an imperial pint glass. Pours a clear reddish amber with a creamy one finger head. Smells of caramel, butterscotch, and some fruity esters. Nice body compliments butterscotch-cocoa flavor. Very good for the style, I just wish it had a little more complexity.

550ml. bottle. This stuff was good and, though I drank it during early summer, well suited for a winter evening. It has flavors of faint hops with a nice malty, almost chocolaty backbone. It is medium bodied and a bit fizzy on the palate but settles smooth in the stomach. Overall: this stuff is good and worth a try - cool label too.

0.55 l bottle. Copper color with small head. Tart, resiny and lemony hops, caramel marmelade as well as grassy dry hops in the aroma. Also the flavor is dominated by tart and resiny hops, caramel and fruity marmelade along with toffee. Good but not exceptional.

Dark coppery colored, little yellow head. American hopped flowery aroma with fruits and some lemon, mild toffee and pine also present. Medium bodied. Flavor is also finely hopped with berry-caramel in beginning. Aftertaste dries mildly with some pine.

I really enjoyed this Winter Welcome. It pours beautifully dark and smooth. It tastes a bit citrusy for a winter but boy howdy it is delicious.

Sampled ’05 and ’06 in a bottle. pours a bright copper colour with a decent medium sized head. Aromas of spice, orange peel, cinnamon and carmel. a decent tasting overall.

Thin to no head on an amber body. Malt aroma and flavor with a mild hop finish. The palate is nice. Some fruit/spice mixture I can’t break apart.