Widmer Brothers Brrr Seasonal Ale

Brewed by Widmer Brothers Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
Portland, Oregon USA

Pours a clear copper bronze with a thin, lightly-lacing off-white head. Fresh, piney citrusy hop aroma has a subtle caramel malty background. Starts with some light toasty sweet caramel toffee, well-balanced with some bittering, resiny piney hops. A fresh very drinkable IPA, but could use a little more body.

bottle 12 oz. Clear dark amber/copper w good carb & beige head that held up just OK, moderate lace. Aroma is med roast caramel malt with floral, spicey, piney hops. Flavor is the same with the darker roasted chocolate malt noticible. Alcohol is somewhat pronounced with the rather dull, cooked together flavors. A bit sweet & stickey w a noticable metallic taste. Well into medium bodied but lacking a clean well defined flavor especially in the malt department. The finish has a very noticable bitterness from the bittering hops. This offering was just OK.

Solid beer from the Widmer’s, I usually don’t care for their stuff. Aroma is mostly caramel with a bit of roasted flavors. Flavor is very sweet with a good amount of bitterness. Not much flavoring or aroma hops here, it’s all for bittering. Oh, and the red color... Nice.

Draft sample at Freakin Frog, Las Vegas. Poured a hazy copper color with an average creamy off-white head that was mostly diminishing and had good lacing. Good allspice and citrus hoppy aroma. Medium body with slick dry texture. Moderate well balanced smooth flavor with a medium bittersweet finish of moderate duration. Good holiday brew.

Bottle.
Pours a nice, deep amber with a healthy head of off-white that leaves a beautiful latticework of lacing. Nose features sweet, syrupy hops and grapefruit with just a hint of strawberry. Flavor is buttery hops with a nice bite of grapefruit in the finish. Tingly mouthfeel that is surprisingly thick. More IPA-esque than an amber, as I’m getting more hops than malt. Pretty decent beer.

12oz. bottle. I remember the W’06 red ale, though I wasn’t rating beer at the time that came out, and I don’t religiously take notes like I should. This is not a traditional seasonal style, although Sierra Nevada’s Celebration is comparable. The body here is very light, and given the alcohol content, that can mean trouble. I recall the W’06 as being hoppier. Celebration ages nicely, and I’m going to try cellaring some of this. Hopefully there’s enough hops to carry it down the road.

From the bottle.

Pours copper brown with a big fluffy tan head. The aroma is huge flower garden hops, with plenty of pine-and-grapefruit and swedish christmas bread malts. The aroma is orange-caramel sweet, certainly hoppy but not bitterly so, with a hint of strawberry syrup and a strange tinge of banana peel --- it coats the tongue as if conspiring to prevent those marvellous hops from working their magic on tastebuds of those unused to PacNW IPAs. While that might be a good thing for some, it feels to me that the best part of the beer is being hidden away.

On tap at the Gasthaus. Dark copper with one finger head. Nose brings with it pine and citrus hops with some grassy tendencies in there too. Nice bitter Red Ale, no hint that there’s 7.2 ABV in this one. Deceptively delicious. I’ve enjoyed this both in the bottle and on tap, but tap wins.