Blue Ridge (MD) Snowballs Chance

Brewed by Wild Goose LLC (Flying Dog)
Style: English Strong Ale
Frederick, Maryland USA

From a 12 oz. bottle with a blurb and best date along the left side of the front label. Poured a ruby hued cola brown with a fluffy, foamy off-white head, good retention, minimal amount of ringed sticking. Aromas of nuts, cocoa and earthy grains and a citric fruity. Good carbonation and a crisp, smooth medium bodied mouthfeel. Pleasant ESB-like taste, toasted nuts and husky grains, a light toffee buttery, a subtle caramelized maltiness, a soft citrus hoppiness, slight taste of alcohol towards the end, and a dry nutty, grainy finish. A nice seasonal from Wild Goose, warming on a cold, windy midwest night.

There is a lot going on here. Plenty of malt in both the aroma and flavor plus there is coffee and toffee notes makes this a nice Winter warmer. Some roastiness is evident This is a beer that grabs you in the back of the mouth and the first sip is almost harsh. It does smooth out some.

Almost black body, but there is some very dark orange at the edges. The aroma has some light coffee and some hard orange candy. There is also some toffee. This is a nice warming smell. The taste has some fairly strong coffee with a little bit of cream. There is also some light toffee. There are roasted and nutty notes in this one. A nice winter warmer.

Nicely done, a deep chestnut bodied ale with a creamy beige head. The aroma consists of roasted malts, caramel, a hint of fresh apples, and a nutty bitterness. A bit of the modest abv does manage to sneak out as well. Nice rich malts, roasted and sweet, with a light bitterness, both nutty and earthy, to balance it all out. I like.

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Sour and caramel in the nose. Poured a nice brown color. The flavor was caramel, malt, a slight sourness in the back, with a dry finish.

07-Jun-06 (12 oz bottle: Obtained 28-Jan-06 in trade with Hopscotch, thanks Eric!) I wasn’t intending on getting another bottle, but since I have one, I might as well give a few additional thoughts. A malt-dominated winter brew all the way, it’s sweet, chocolaty, toasty and earthy, with very mild hops doing something silly like trying to balance the delicious malts. The nose isn’t as chocolaty as the flavor, rather, it seems very toasty, which is fine by me too. Medium-full bodied, rich and pleasing on the palate. This is one of those beers that I will never complain if someone sends me one as a bonus. Great stuff.

09-Apr-05 (12 oz bottle: Obtained in trade with jeffin7, thanks Jeff!) A favorite local beer back when I lived in DC, Snowball’s Chance is now not-so-local special treat, thanks to the wonders of trading. Moderate roast, malt, caramel, fairly sweet early on, transforming into a modestly nutty finish. Mild hops presence throughout, but most of the bitterness seems to come more from the roasted malts. Medium to full bodied with enough bitterness to clean out the palate. The nose is somewhat malty, but also a bit stinky, and I’m not really sure what’s going on there. A gorgeous mahogany in color, but the tan head is on the small side and fades to a halo fairly quickly, leaving hardly any lace on the glass. (6, 3, 7, 4, 14 = 3.4)

Bottle sampled with Stegosaurus. Pours dark tan head. Aroma of malt, hops, and nuts. Flavor is bitter, carbonated, spices. Didn’t care to much for this.

Not a bad brew. Had a strong coffee flavor, but not too bitter. Went down fairly smooth. Perfect for a cold winter month. Unfortunately, I tried this one in April, but it’s still a solid beer.