Big Rock McNally’s Winter Spice Ale

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

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

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.

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.

[2059-20090402] 341mL bottle. Sweet green beany freshness aroma. Clear, dark amber body with a quick creamy off-white head. Flavour has every mild: malty fruit, wateryness and alcohol. Medium body. Average.
(c/o GregClow, w/ garthicus, HogTownHarry, jerc)

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.

Bottle. Deep golden-orange with a spare white head. Aroma is mildly sweet and spicy - hard to pinpoint specific spices, but I got some cinnamon and ginger. Medium bodied - too light for what is supposed to be a "winter warmer", but OK. Flavour is nice, with some bread and toffee and spice, but again, too subdued to be a really solid winter seasonal. Still a decent brew, though, and it went well with the cinnamon-molasses cookies that came in the package.

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.