Bottle. Brown with an inch of tan head. Sweet alcohol in the nose, along with hints of pine. Sweet caramel, pine, hazelnut, and slight fruit flavor. Nice mouthfeel... tasty.

How did English strong ale become a winter brew? This is a 12 oz brown bottle with a twist off cap at the Bocktown for only $2. Beautiful aphotic pour with orange tints. Not opaque but very dark. It did pour much darker than what is shown in the website photo. Bantam off white head. Aromas of pyric toast with metallic hints. Roasty malt flavors, leaves a charred wood impact on the back of your throat. Enjoyable, not bad for a dark beer. Good and hearty, a little thicker than usual, almost chewy. I appreciate the medium carbonation, it adds character to this brew. Hides it’s alky content well. This has a friendlier taste than Redhook Winterhook, Weyerbacher Winter Ale and Summit Winter Ale. Finish is medium bitter and hangs. Though it hangs, it is not a terrible bitterness, it is just enough to let you know you drank a good dark beer.

Aroma of malt, bananas, citrus, spice. Smooth fullish mouth with a malty finish. Mahogany brown with a white head. I wonder how this would be on draught

Loose bottle from Sam’s Wines. No offense to these guys, but I hope this is the last winter beer to cross my palate until next winter. Opened with a sour brett smell that petered out as I poured it. Poured into too tall and narrow glass, it kicked up a big thick head of foam, over a deep brown, possibly hazy (don’t have enough light here) body. Taste starts with Christmas spices, perhaps a little nutmeg and cinnamon, but not as stroing as in the anchor Christmas beers. That English ale fruitiness does come in after a while, but mostly I find roasty nut brown ale malts. Must have been hard to this northwest brewer to stay away from the big US hops, this has instead a nicely balanced, peppery English hop quotient; though further down I may detect some dry hopping for bitterness. Best enjoyed in the context of other Pyramid beers all at once.

I liked this beer very much. I had purchased a sampler case with this, hefeweizen, apricot weizen, and amber wiezen. This was clearly the better brew. Poured a rich color of amber with a nice frothy head. Sweet aroma with some fruitiness. Taste was a blend of caramel, roastiness, clove, and a nice amount of hops. Cheers!

Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a mahogany color with a large dark tan head. The aroma is sweet and nutty. The flavor is sweet, vaguely spicy and nutty with a bitter finish. Not bad but nothing special either.

Very nice and dark with a good head, good taste and appearance. I liked this beer. Would buy again

Moderate aroma of sweet, overripe fruits, mainly plum. Thin body and fizzy carbonation is almost more noticable than the flavor. That’s mainly sweet and roasted malts with some hints of alcohol spiciness. The finish is moderately long and bitter. The beer has a slight stickiness to it as well. A tasty beer, but there are more interestingand complex, stick-to-the-ribs winter ales.

bottle - Pours dark reddish brown, moderate, rapidly fading head, aroma of malts and a hint of spices. Medium body with fairly light carbonation. The malts are front and center in the flavor with a nice hoppy bitterness in the finish. I taste a little alcohol in the finish, but it’s fairly well masked. While not exactly spectacular, this is a pleasant, warming brew for a cold evening.

Pour is a dark mahogany with a tan head. Aroma is caramel malts with a touch of hops. Flavor is chocolates and roasted malts. Strong fruit and raision flavor appear at the swallow. Very tasty and warming.