Big Sky Powder Hound Winter Ale

Brewed by Big Sky Brewing Company
Style: English Strong Ale
Missoula, Montana USA

Bottle. Pours deep mahogany with a small, fizzy, light brown head, diminishing with fair lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (cookie, caramel, nutty), light hops (flowers), average yeast (dough) with notes of toffee and dates. Medium bodied, sticky texture, average carbonation, and a bitter finish. Short duration, light sweetness, moderate acidity and bitterness.

Aroma is dark, bready malt, with barely detectable hop. Mahogany color with an off-white head that did a bit of lacing. Near medium in body with creamy carbonation. Touch of apricot! Dark roasted caramel, nutty, and apricot flavor and aroma. Lots of malt, but not all that sweet. The finish is somewhat dry after the sweetness drains away, leaving roasted malt remnants, still a bit of apricot, and maybe that’s floral hop? A little bitter does seem to build, but British hops? Notorious flowery things. This is a little "brown", a bit rough, but the flavors make it a fairly decent drink. Glad I bought it.

Bottled. Pours deep amber with a ruby hue and a light brown head. Aroma is bread and malt. Flavor is creamy nuts! Some roasted bread, and pretty strong malt body.

pour is amber with a red hue, small egg-shell head. smell is faint, old grass, sweetness of caramel, a bit of citrus, somewhat floral. taste is bitter hops, herbs, a little tangy metallic, spices, end is bitter and tangy.

Bottle. Orange amber color. Roasted malt aroma with distinct citric hoppy notes. The hop aspect hits first then the roasted malt, although the malt aspect of the flavor does not deliver what color of the beer promises. Not bad, but could be better.

12 oz. bottle, no freshness date, sampled in a pint glass. Clear appearance, orange hued bronze in color, creamy beige head. Good head retention, small amount of ringed laced sticking. Smells of toasted malts, caramel and grainy bread. In the beginning I smelled traces of herbal, tobacco leafy hops, but they quickly fade. Smooth firm medium body with a moderate crispness, semi-dry in the finish. Nice roasted malty taste, caramel and chocolate, touches of caramelized sugar as well. Mild hop bitterness towards the end, soft leafy spiciness. Sweet malty finish, a cocoa chocolate emerges along with a light interplay of spice and sweet bread. I can’t remember when I picked this up, probably last winter on a business trip to central Wisconsin. I have a feeling this would be much better if I sampled a fresher bottle or from the tap.

Had this beer on 11/12/2006. Aroma is a sweet, lightly roasted malt scent. Color is nice orange brown with good carbonation and a thin tight head. Taste is rich, sweet and malty. starting with a full/medium body it goes down with a creamy rich feel. Finish comes on with a rich caramel malt flavor backed by very mild hop flavor and a nice bitterness. Its full and robust and leaves you feeling warm the way a Winter Ale should.

Bottle. Town & Country Foods, Bozeman Pours dark ruby, with a skinny head. Average mouthfeel. Very plummy and figgy. Good Finish.