Townsite Brewing Bière d'Hiver Winter Ale

Bière d'Hiver Winter Ale

 

Townsite Brewing in Powell River, British Columbia, Canada 🇨🇦

  Belgian Style - Dubbel Regular Out of Production
Score
6.47
ABV: 7.5% IBU: - Ticks: 11
Townsite’s brewmaster made 60Kg of candi sugar by bringing sugar and water up to 300 degrees and then added this sugar to the boil creating a winter warmer that is spicy and plummy in flavour.
 

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6.6
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Poured from 650mL bottle. Mahogany brown with light tan head. Candi sugar, plum, and raisin, hint of spice. Good attempt at an abbey dubbel, but finish is a bit too metallic.

Tried from Bottle on 15 Dec 2016 at 01:52


6.1
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5

Deep brown body with a vibrant ruby tint and a thick, three centimetre tall tan head. Aroma of toffee, caramel, malt, earth and a bit of english hops. Medium-bodied; Strong caramel and malt flavour at first with a big earthy and nutty flavour that persists throughout and only shows a touch of sugar at the tail end. Aftertaste shows some malt and funk with a lot of mushroomy flavours, but also a lot of sugars. Overall, a pretty typical beer with some good flavours, some bad ones and a decent finish. Not too much complexity and the flavours were decent at best, so this is probably worth passing on, especially if you have to bring it across country lines and all the way across the whole of the country. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from Legacy Liqour Store in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on 08-June-2015 for CA$10,65 sampled at home in Washington, on the other side of both countries on 16-December-2015.

Tried from Bottle on 17 Dec 2015 at 00:06


6.4
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Chestnut, tan head.Malt nose. Lightly yeasty malt palate,notes of brown sugar. Light alcohol and hops.1 of their best but that isn’t saying much

Tried on 11 Dec 2015 at 02:40


7.5
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Bottle generously donated by the brewer and obtained via my colleague Marie, thanks very much for this one! A gentle and sunny afternoon in late September is probably not the time to have a winter ale, but I was too curious about this to wait for three more months... From a 65 cl bomber with nicely decorated label. Light gushing, but fortunately not too violently so. Pours a deep hazy burgundy brown-red colour, warm and attractive, under a lacing, medium sized, light yellowish white, moussy head with good retention. Aroma jumps into the nose with a truckload of melting brown sugar and cocoa nibs, along with hints of cinnamon, medlar, warm toasted bread, plum brandy, banana liqueur, sweet sherry, hazelnut paste, ruby port, marmelade, thin gooseberry sourness, clove- and slightly varnish-like phenols - the sweet and spicy, seductive bouquet of a rich, English style winter ale indeed. Some maderisation is already setting in too, but only to add complexity; this is clearly a beer which ages graciously. Rounded, sweet onset, residual brown sugar but not cloying at all, counterbalanced with a light fruity tartness (brambleberry, passionfruit); banana and candied orange flavours are there as well. Mouthfeel is soft and creamy, with medium carbonation. A smooth, oily, caramelly and nutty but also notably oxidized maltiness ensues, adorned with spicy hints and leading to a finish which brings some drought to further balance the initial sweetness; there is an earthy, lightly peppery hop bitterness doing its work, as well as a very light kind of lactic tartness, but too subtle to call it infected. Warming alcohol balances on the brink of astringency in the end and spicy phenols finish it off retronasally. A lush, elegant winter warmer, in which the ’overdose’ of sugar has fermented out very well, leading to a well-controlled sweetness with delicious liqueurish effects here and there, accentuating its English old ale affinities. Lovely example of the style!

Tried from Bottle on 20 Sep 2015 at 08:16


7
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

tons of caramel malty with raisins and cherries. Easy drinking. Lingering cherries and toffee finish.

Tried on 25 Jan 2015 at 01:47


6.8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottle - Tart. Plum, light raisin and soured malts. Deep clear Amber with a rich light brown head. Light soured malts, light perfume, plum and some raisin. Tart, medicinal and interesting.

Tried from Bottle on 04 Dec 2014 at 18:00


4.6
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4.5

On tap at the Alibi Room, pours a dark mahogany with a small tan head. Aroma brings out licorice notes upfront, followed by coriander and a touch of toffee. Flavour is bizarre, bringing out a strange mix anise and coriander. This isn't cohesive at all. Really messy and rather unpleasant. Not my thing.

Tried from Draft on 20 Nov 2014 at 09:46


7.2
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Mahogany-brown, thin head, slightly spicy, with brown sugar, a fairly estery note w light bubblegum phenols. Sweetish front, almost Belgian-level phenols resulting from the candi sugar, some nice raisiny, fruitcakey notes that are more in the Anglo-American tradition. Maybe a bit thin for something that should be a big-bodied beer. Better for the pub, but not hefty enough for the fireside.

Tried from Can on 13 Apr 2014 at 19:16


7.2
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

A reddish copper ale with a thin mocha head. In aroma, nice sweet fruity malt with light oaked notes, banana and cloves, nice. In mouth, a smooth sweet dark fruity malt with light treacle, oak, very well done. Aged on oak chips. Cask Days 2013.

Tried from Cask on 19 Oct 2013 at 11:21


5.2
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4

650 ml bottle. Pours a clear dark brown with medium head. Aromas of grass, light chocolate, and hints of citrus and spice. Flavors of burnt malt, old raisins, and copper. Drinkable but not very inspiring.

Tried from Bottle on 29 Dec 2012 at 16:18