Berghoff Hazelnut Winter Fest Ale

Brewed by Minhas Craft Brewery
Style: Brown Ale
Monroe, Wisconsin USA

This beer rocks. The commercial description will have to suffice since I didn’t take notes. However, this is a great winter warmer. If you enjoy other winter warmers that I have rated highly, you will love this one.

Handsome copper color, but little head or body. Nice intro to a drink. It’s got a light caramel & stale nut aroma. The drink itself is watery, come caramel and what tastes more like nut shells than nut meat. Not a pleasant experience.

I haven’t had this one in a while. My memory had this tasting a lot better than the 2002 version. Light chestnut color with a moderate white head. Mild hazelnut aroma with a touch of dry metalic malt. Mild almond/hazelnut flavor without the malt to back it up. To me this is a amber lager with a drop of almond extract. Sometimes memories should not reconfirmed.

Bottle. Pours brown color with an average rocky white head that diminished quickly. Average sweet fruity malty aroma. Medium body with a smooth texture. Moderate sweet fruity flavor with an average duration finish.

Golden lager with white head. Fruity rye malt in aroma. Sweet biscuity malt with light hops and medium bodied. Not bad but dissapointing. Did go well with the pork sandwich, bringing out the biscuitty malt. At Bergoff’s Café Nov. 10 2005.

STRONG hazelnut aroma, nice reddish-brown dark color, little head, some spiciness; ok winter brew which promises a bit more in the nose than it delivers to the tongue and throat. Thin, like many Berghoffs, and the spices might seem like a lot to those used to paying $5 a six, but if you’ve had Anchor’s or Lakefront’s winter seasonals, you can forget about this.

Poured a dark amber. Light colored for a brown. The aroma is rich with caramel and some hazelnuts. There is also some iced tea. I love hazelnuts, so I hope this beer does not dissapoint. The taste is iced tea with just a hint of the hazelnuts. There is also some very ligth caramel sweetness. This is a decent brew, but has a thin watery body. I would like a little more heft, but Berghoff is heading the right direction with a beer like this.

Bottle: Reddish highlights over the amber hue that produced a small fizzy head and some lace. The aroma has notes of hazelnut (duh), toasted and buttery malts, floral hops, vanilla, and earthy yeast esters. The taste starts sweet and nutty. A strange note of cuurent and cherry pop in for a moment and then fade. Some bitters on the the finish with the lingering hazelnut aftertaste. The feel is fizzy and buttery, becomes bland after half a glass. I love hazelnut but found this brew lent itself to much towards the nutty character and not enough ale. Still, nice enough to try fresh on tap if I can find it.