Captain Lawrence Nor’ Easter Winter Warmer

Brewed by Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Pleasantville, New York USA

Bottle: Dark ruby with a thin tan head, aroma has brown sugar, chocolate and alcohol with bits of dark fruit and lemon. starts and ends sweet with a mild sweet boubon taste at the end, full bodied with ample carbonation and slick texture. Thanks Andrew!

Cold 25.4oz bottle: Pours a crystal clear dark brown cola color with some ruby highlights and a very thin light tan layer of bubbles. Aroma is of roasted malts, chocolate and coffee with some notes of fruit and whiskey. Taste is of well blended dark malts, tangy hops, fruit and spice. Smooth and heavy bodied, with good carbonation. Ending is of rich malts and coffee with some chocolate notes and alcohol burn.

NorCal Feb ’08 - BATCH NO. 1 - What an absolute pleasure to consume. Rarely does a beer like this come along and when it does, I want to savor every little drop of this elixir of the Gods. An incredily complex aroma of vanilla, dark fruits, lightly roasted malts, caramel, balsamic vinegar, bourbon, molasses, oak, earthy, smokey, subtle soy sauce notes....crazy tasty. The flavor is equally as complex. Dangerously easy to consume as the 12% was nowhere to be found. Sublimely easy to drink, you can’t help but want to taste this beer because it seems to change with each and every sip. Kudos to the guys at Captain Lawrence for making this beer. Easily the best they have to offer IMO. I wouldn’t mind having another 6-12 of these on hand. But I don’t, which sucks.

Bottle courtesy of beastyfan2k. Murky brown pour with a thin light brown head. Amazing, complex aroma of chocolate, raisins, plums, berries, roasted malt with a barrel character. Excellent flavor of decadent roasted malt, chocolate, berries, raisins, plums and again the barrel character, bitterness is felt in the end. The body is medium with a liquorous texture and gentle carbonation. This is a truly excellent beer, now if every winter warmer was as good as this one...

In short: A big, VERY BIG, fruity sticky monster of a digestive beer. Excellent.
How: Bottle 750ml Batch #1 (1 year 3 months old) and Batch #2 (3 months old). Tasting session with Montreal crew.
The look: Brown black body with a small tan head
In long: Big sticky body with just about all the dark fruits flavours you can think of and then some. Plums, figs, prunes, blackberries, etc. Also something that reminded me of concentrate grape juice before adding the four cans of water. A light chocolate presence and some port wine notes. Alcohol extremely well hidden. Describing a beer by its dark fruity flavours makes it sounds like one among many but really there’s something quite original and unique about the taste of this one that I can’t put into words. Batch #1 has a stronger barrel presence while Batch #2 has is more fruit focussed. To me they were equally excellent. It may only be on its second year but already the Nor Easter is one of the best winter traditions. We need more winters and more Nor Easters. Al Gore didn’t scare me but this beer will makes me fear greenhouse effect.

Bottle, batch #2. Black pour with some tan head. Aroma of roasted chocolate malt. wood, and bourbon. Nice dense, smooth palate. Flavor is some sweet chocolate, lightly roasted chocolate malt, and bourbon in the back and finish. Slight warming.

Bottle; Batch number 2 courtesy of golubj. Poured a dark brown black, with a medium sized light brown to brown head; lacing. Aroma of cocoa, roasted malt, bourbon and wood. Palate was very good; soft and smooth. Flavor had a lot of distinct elements. Flavors of fruit/eldeberry, bourbon, wood, roasted malt, and chocolate. Alcohol was well hidden. Thought that this was one was well above average for the style.

Opaque dark brown pour with a certain reddish tint. not the most beautiful colour, more or less like liquid medjool dates. Quickly departing head. Enticing, rich, sugary, bourbony nose. I’ve had the chance to try batch #2 quite a few times over the last few months and just yesterday, we compared #1 to #2. I must say I prefer the #2. The fruitiness was far more forward, vital, so was a certain smokiness. More or less, it felt both more complex and fresher. This brew plays two games at once: the one of decadence through sheer complexity and the one of incomprehension through unadulterated originality. Both batches are still relatively comparable and can be counted among today’s most originals products on the planet. Flavours include, but are not limited to : blueberry, strawberry, fruit cake, prunes, chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon. The bourbon influence is indeed quite noticeable, but amidst the fruitiness, you lose most of the heavy alcohol/sticky corn notes. It’s too juicy for that. Alcohol is indeed warming, but not favorising headaches. So, a very sweet brew indeed, but enough contemplative nuances to be appealing. As a late nightcap, it’s as fine as most top shelves beers. For a 12% behemoth, it remains rather drinkable, but frankly, I don’t think I could drink a whole bottle even if I dedicated 3 hours to the task. Do I enjoy it? Yes, in the right context, but I don’t feel a pull toward having another one the following day. Still, I’m quite impressed by that product.