Samuel Smiths Winter Welcome Ale

Brown pour with a tall white head. Aroma has lots of fruit and spice. The flavor is full of malt and spice, along with some thick fruit sweetness. Great holiday brew.

Courtesy of Philippe (Bov)
Copper color. A dry Ale, with some caramel and toffee flavor, and a good hopping. Too dry to be suitable for winter, but pleasant.

I don’t know what’s "strong" about this. Bottled. Excellent all around taste. Malty and slightly chocolately. Good color and good body. I like it.

A nice moderate head on the pour, pretty loose foam, but beautiful color and glow in the body. I really like the aroma of sweet plums, licorice and pepper. The palate is a slightly over carbonated medium body with a good wet feeling to offset the dry, dirty flavor that lingers heavily on the rim of the tongue. This dirty flavor is offset by an upfront mild sweetness, too mild I’m afraid to really compete. This beer begs to be drank by the gallon in a manly rurual english pub, or so I imagine. Still, this manly dirt sensation leaves me satisfied after just one bottle.

550ml bottle from Bentalls of Kingston. Gold with a massive, loose, cream head; rich, fruity, vinous and alcoholic aroma; the taste echoes this, thick, syrupy and oily with lots of stewed fruit and alcohol; a warming finish but rather a brute of a beer.

Nose of dried fruits, spices and malt. Pourrs a copper coloured beer with a large head. Taste is fruity, with malt dominating. Alcohol is quite sharp. Carbonation is a touch disconcerting. Not bad but not one of SS’s best beers.

Bottle of the 07/08 vintage, poured into an American pint glass. Appearance: Beautiful copper color, lots of bubbles rising to the head -- which is a nice foamy off-white, and sticks around. Nose: I can sense it even before I get close. Nice hop aroma (Goldings? Fuggles?), also hay, malt, and rural English rain. Taste: slightly spritzy, and spice right off the bat. What is that? mild cinnamon? allspice? This opens up into a wider smorgasbord -- artisan hearth bread, toasted walnuts. As it warms, some roasted caramel malts enter in. Very earthy, very English, wonderful. Palate: very nice and pleasant, if perhaps fading a bit too quickly. Which does, however, serve to bring the glass back to my lips that much sooner. Overall: Excellent. Another winner from Sam Smith’s. I had it along with a venison hutspot (mashed potatoes and carrots and onion) with soda bread, and it was spot-on. I’ll be getting this one each winter for sure.

This was okay- a big let down considering the other S.S. Ales... Not enough flavor or spice, especially for a Winter Ale. Not bad, but generally just O.K.