Spanish Peaks Winter Cheer

Brewed by City Brewery (Melanie Brewing Co)
Style: Amber Ale
La Crosse, Wisconsin USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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Nice brown pour with a tan head. Nice aroma of hops spice. Great spicy taste with a nice lasting aftertaste. There isn’t anything better than having a nice, dark winter brew on a cold night. I’m very impressed with this one.

Bottled. Poured a clear, deep garnety-copper with a creamy cap of beige head and sticky lacing. The aroma was nice and hoppy, with pine and herbal notes on top of caramel, chocolate, and coffee.. sweet, warm, and seemingly well-balanced. The flavor had caramel, chocolate, and nutty notes at the core with dry coffee bitterness, a little fruit showed at the end, and this was quite well-balanced. Medium-bodied and a little grainy on the palate.. warm, toasty finish. Very good stuff!

Six pack picked up at Publix here in Jacksonvile, FL. I watched this six pack for a week or two, and decided on Sunday it was time to give it a good home. Beer pours a very dark amber color, nearly brown with a lasting light tan head. Aroma is a nice, hearty malt. Taste is rich and malted, with a nice hoppy finish that isn’t too sharp, just enough to let you know the beer is good. Very nice beer.

Very dark maroon color with a scant tan head and no significant lacing. Lots of malt flavor, but also lots of hops - unusual to find both so prominently displayed in a winter ale. Light spice, probably cinnamon. Very drinkable.

12oz bottle consumed at New World in Tampa. Pours clear amber with lasting tan head and some sheet lacing. Mild aroma with a rich roastiness as well as a bit of sweet dark fruitiness. It has a rich inviting flavor with roasty malts mixed with pine hop bitterness. The malts seem to dominate but the hops can’t be dismissed either. Toward the finish a brief dark fruitiness surfaces and mixes with mild caramel candy sweetness to add to the persistent roasty maltiness. Tastes better than I was expecting.

Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a mahogany color with a very large dark tan head. The aroma was sweet, malty, lightly roasty and had undertones of chocolate and caramel. The flavor was bitter, malty and dry with touches of chocolate and coffee and a light nutty undertone. Subtly throughout were notes of tobacco and somewhat harsh hops. The finish was long, dry and malty. The mouthfeel was fairly thick. Complex and rather nice.

Got the case for free. Free beer generally tastes better. What a bargain. Delicious. First one I slugged down straight from the bottle. No problem. Delicious. Poured the next one into my favorite vessel. Even better. I will have no problem polishing off this case. Great hop taste for a winter beer.

Bottle… Pours clear and dark brown until held up to light, then bang… deep, dark crimson. Small, creamy, khaki head with excellent retention. Malty, lightly floral aroma delivers caramel, biscuit and toasted nuts. Full-bodied with prickly carbonation. Sweet, nutty and mildly chocolaty up front; followed by modest grapefruit bitterness on the backside. Lengthy, sweet finish.

This has a definite winter ale type of aroma, some spices that I can’t completely identify, cinnamon and....??? Overall, it’s a pretty simple but tasty beer, decent.

THOUGHTS: Very easy to drink. It was nice, just not what I think of as a winter beer. To me, Autumn is just fine for this one. Very well balanced. Got even better when warmer. A really nice beer. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a clear, dark brownish red with a small, off-white head that mostly diminished and left virtually no lacing. It looked very cola like. The aroma was light to moderate chocolate and mild coffee along with moderate pine and citrus hops. The initial flavor was moderately sweet and lightly bitter, while the finish was moderately sweet and bitter with and average duration. The flavor was caramel malt into piney hops with a slight bit of chocolate and coffee. The medium body was oily with fizzy carbonation and a slightly metallic and lightly astringent finish.