My first experience with Smuttynose was pretty fantastic. I adored their Shoals Pale Ale, a great beer to be sure. My second experience was less... enjoyable. I found their pumpkin ale to be a bit disappointing. I'm not one to be put off a whole brewery based upon one bad experience though! And after hearing some good things about this particular beer I'm back to my month of Christmas beers with Smuttynose's Winter Ale. A Belgian style abbey dubble checking in at 5.83% ABV and 30 IBUS. Let's see if Smuttynose can win their way back into my good graces. To the beer!
Winter Ale pours what appears to be a very deep, nearly opaque brown. But when the glass is held to light a lovely soft red glow becomes apparent. It's topped off by a thin finger of dense off white head that hangs on for dear life. All in all a quite pretty beer.
A complex set of aromas wafts up from this beer. Some dark sweet maltiness first. Followed by some graininess and dry baker's chocolate and coffee roastiness. Also hints at lovely, fruity belgian yeastiness.
Smuttynose Winter Ale is incredibly creamy and silky smooth with a medium to rather big body. Lovely roasty malt flavor imparts hints of sweet and dark chocolate and coffee. There is also a fantastic complex fruitiness going on here as well with hints of raisin, plum, and date. There's this really tasty, and again complex, malt body going on here too. Powdery, molasses, toffee, caramel, and even a bit of nutty flavor makes for a pretty tremendous body. For all of the the sweetness swirling around inside that glass the beer actually finishes quite dry.
OK. Smuttynose is firmly and safely back in my good graces. This is a pretty delightful beer. Dark, sweet, malty, and very complex. Go seek this beer out. Great stuff.
HD
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