Samuel Smiths Winter Welcome Ale

Brewed by Samuel Smith
Style: English Strong Ale
Tadcaster, England

12 oz bottle from Total Wine. Pours a copper like color with very little head. Aroma is a bit malty with a light fruit notes. Smooth drinking, but rather boring.

2006-07 Poured from a bottle, vefry malty nose with a touch of a fruity smell. It poured rddish golden body with a vanilla head, really what an ale should look like. Don’t know whay I like Sam Smith so much its probably because they do not dissappoint.

This english ale has nice flavor. Malty, roasty and some hops and fruit notes. The metallic flavor is not nearly as bad as other english strongs that I’ve had. Appearance is slightly hazy orange, with a roasted malt, light fruit, and hop aroma.

Easy drinking, sweet, hoppy aroma. Taste is a metallic, hoppy combination that’s not altogether pleasing. Metallic overtones due to artificial carbonation, I imagine. If it was allowed to ferment naturally this would be a far superior ale. As it is it’s a nice winter compliment to a cheap summer thirst-quencher, but nothing more, really. Very poor aftertaste again due to artificial carbonation. Hoppy, though, redeeming some of the poorer characteristics.

Pours a clear copper color with small whitish head. Aroma is of caramel, toffee and light fruit notes. taste is of sweet caramel malt, toffee, light hops and a weird metallic flavor that gives off some light fruit notes. Easy drinking but not that tasty.

The abv doesn’t seem high enough for an English strong. Hops are light in the flavor and aroma, but there is ample malt. On the dry side, almost Scottish in character. Kind of a premium bitter.

THOUGHTS: Not much carbonation. Flavor wasn’t bad, but not strong enough for my tast. Mouthfeel was also a little too dry for me. I can deal with dry and I can deal with bitter, but not goth. There was way more caramel in the aroma than in the flavor and more hoppy in the flavor than in the aroma. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a transluscent copper color, with a small white to off-white head that hardly laced. The aroma was light to moderate caramel and light hops. There was also some rasin, apple, holiday spice and alcohol which was a surprise since it isn’t a very high ABV. The initial flavor was ligthly sweet and bitter, and the finish flavor was lightly acidic, moderately bitter and sour with a long duration. The body was light to medium. It was dry on the back of the tongue, watery in the flavor and oily in the front of the mouth.

Decent English Ale. Characteristics in keeping, but after a few of these, I found myself wanting something else...