Anderson Valley Winter Solstice

Brewed by Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Boonville, California USA

Pours a cloudy caramel color with a large off white head. The nose is spicy with hint of sugar cane. Creamy in the mouth with a little spice and something that makes you feel warm inside. Finishes with a nice bitterness.

Pours a hazy dull amber-brown with decent, settling khaki head and nice lacing. Aroma is vanilla-sweet, with orange-peel fruitiness and strong toffee malt. Caramel and marshmallow on the tongue, with an interesting vanilla/menthol quality from some unnamed spice or two, with barely a hop bitterness in the finish. A rather nice winter beer.

Bottle. Pours hazy orange amber, off white head. Aroma is spices, fruit, malt: sort of like a fruit cake. Flavor is the same with sugary notes and some vegetable, tastes similar to an oktoberfest, or maybe I’m out of my gourd, excuse the pun.

Bottle. Poured a deep amber body with thin head. Aroma reminded me of vanilla coke. Flavor was vanilla, sweet malt and light vegetable. Interesting.

bottle. amber/ruby pour. small head. sweet malt aroma. light spice. taste is sweet upfront. light fruit and spice. nice flavors for winter but needs to balance out the sweetness a bit more.

Pours a somewhat cloudy amber... Sweet aroma, a hint of vanilla... Champagney initially on the palate with an initial shock of vanilla and then lingering spices for days with a faint tartness. Top notch winter spiced ale...

Bottle: Wow, what a beer! Poured an amber/red color with a nice amount of head. The aroma was that of sweet caramel and your traditional winter spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, etc...). The flavor was sweet with hints of cinnamon, butterscotch, and cherry. But not overly sweet, very well balanced. The aftertaste was somewhat reminiscent of their Summer Solstice. Almost like a creamy after taste. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

poured from 12oz. bottle into a dimpled mug A: This is a gorgeous beer, rich & inviting, it looks like melted toffee or caramel, and has a huge fluffy off-white head that leaves a decent amount of lacing along the walls of the mug. S: This beer smells like winter, roasted winter, lol. The aroma of roasted beans and baking bread are nearly overwhelming, with just the right hint of nuttiness and pine needles. T/M: Very sweet, not as nutty or roasted as the smell would indicate. Cookies and shortbread dominate, coupled with butterscotch and maybe a smidgen of maple syrup, and the only bitterness comes in the form of a well-balanced toasted finish. Perfectly carbonated with a slick mouthfeel and a lingering almost cloying finish. D: The overall sweetness might turn some off, but if a semi-spiced nutty ESB-styled ale is your bag, you’ll love this.