Big Rock McNally’s Winter Spice Ale

Brewed by Big Rock Brewery
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Calgary, Canada

Shared by jerc and mabel withHogTownHarry and I - courtesy of GregClow. Appearance: Golden red body with a small white head. Aroma: Cinnamon, malt, winter spices, slight stewed cherry. Flavour: Malt and cinnamon, quite ’bready’, yeast and spices with a nice mild spice finish, not bad.

Bottle (341ml). Shared by jerc and mabel with me and garthicus - courtesy of GregClow. Clear amber with a quick-diminishing off-white head. Aroma of brown sugar & squash, mild pumpkin pie spices - it grew on me after an initial "vegetal" thought. Sweet, earthy and spicy cereal grain taste - mild. Slick, still body with a quick finish and a sweet and spicy aftertaste. I liked it a fair bit.

2009-04-02. Orange brown body with a smallish off-white head. Sweetish aroma, has a lightly spicy character. Ginger? Nutmeg? (6+) Flavour is sweet, with mild malt profile, light bitterness to the spice. Pleasant moderate spice flavours similar to those in the aroma. Average palate. Simple but pleasantly quaffable. Bottle from GregClow

clear amber pour witha quickly fading head. Aroma of gingerbread, tocuhes of cinnamon, and a nutmeg. Flavor is quite sweet, and a touch cloying. More ginger notes, and cinnamon, but next to no hops, and very little malt. Kinda like a cookie in a glass, but not really beer. meh.

Tastes like Traditional Ale with some gingerbread added. Sweet, with toffee/candy, served with cookie. Sorry the cookie is not going to save you!

Bottle, thanks Greg. Looks nice -dark copper, big thick foamy creamy head, lots of streaming bubbles. Mild but decent aroma - some nutmeg, ginger, lots of sweetness. Taste is decent as well - more toffee sweetness, and the mild spices. Body is a bit too thin. That thick creamy head lasted the whole glass as well. Surprised by this, it is more than decent and a solid effort by Big Rock.

Pours a clear, copper-tinted gold, with a moderate white head leaving a little early lace. Spicy, biscuity malt aroma. Toffee malt foundation with a healthy dose of nutmeg/mace spice, a little cinnamon, a little ginger, but not much clove for me. Despite the 6% ABV this comes across as lighter bodied. This is a nice pleasant fall-flavoured session ale that stops just shy of being too sweet or too cloying. The packaging is pretty smart, designed to draw in the less adventuresome with beer glasses and cookies, while also making it a pretty cool party gift. Big Rock has got some marketing smarts IMO, and not a bad seasonal to back it up.

4-pack with 2 glasses and ginger snap cookies. Pours a rich copper-amber. Has some steady bubbles rising through the beer but minimal head is gone quickly leaving an almost clear surface. Sharp warm spice in a moderate aroma. Smells like ginger cookies. Cloves keep it away from a possible pumpkin pie scent. Lots of spice in the flavour, strong on ginger and cloves. Body is a little thin perhaps for a winter warmer. I think with some more malt depth and character that this might make a nice seasonal. Perhaps used in cooking or paired with the right food? Might be that difficult beer that does not quite hit the beer geek but is unapproachable for the masses.