Summit Winter Ale

Brewed by Summit Brewing Company
Style: English Strong Ale
St. Paul, Minnesota USA

Bottle pour was deep brown in color, clear in appearance, with a thin, tan head. Mild carbonation. Aromas are strong: coffee, chocolate, heavy roasted malts. Tastes of dark, smoky tobacco malts, some sweet toffee, and a hint of fruit. Finishes with a slight hops wash, hint of alcohol, and full lingering flavors. A decent winter brew, nice way to finish the evening.

On tap at the Gingerman in Fort Worth. After letting it si and warm for almost twenty minutes, it finally smelled kinda like a little bit of malt. Taste is nice, but faint. Chocolate and grains. As it warmed more, the flavor shifted to old grapes.

Dark ruby red pour. Light aroma, might be too cold right now. I’ll revisit that in a tad. Taste has dark fruits upfront that finish with a dry, chalky feeling. Some light chocolate makes itself known but provides little change in the overall flavor. Taste gets increasingly dry as it goes on. Fruit has dark plum, easy citrus and bitter grapes. After quite an amount of time has passed, the aroma expands to a smelly grape must. Well didn’t get much better.

Draft at Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. Definitely of the winter warmer style. Pours brown with smallish off-white head. Spice minimal here, which is good. British malts and mild hops. Some toffee and grainy malt. Mild sweet fruits. Not bad.

Poured from bottle into Nonic Imperial Pint. Reddish chestnut brown with small off-white head and slight lacing. Smells like toffee, spicy English hops, molasses, cherry and plum. A rich sweet malty smell that only somewhat remains throughout. Somewhat sweet toffee and fruit malt backbone taste, with notes of molasses, nuts and spicy hops. Could have used a little more spicy hops, but overall a nice malt character. Relatively low carbonation, smooth and creamy somewhat full body. This is really a rich, sweet and malty Brown Ale. Quite nice overall, but a little dull for a Winter Ale.

Draft: Pours dark brown with a finger of creamy beige head. Nice lacing. Light aroma is roasty and a bit sweet. Tastes rich with roast and evena little burnt malt. Some toffee, caramel, and earthy notes. Nice.

(bottle). Pours a dark brown color. Medium tan head. Malty aroma. Roasted malt flavor with light alcohol. Avg duration. Spare lacing. Slick texture. Soft carbonation.

A very tasty seasonal ale from Summit. Pours medium brown with a nice creamy head. Good blend of caramel and sweeter malts balance out light toffee and chocolate.