Cottonwood Frostbite

Formerly brewed at Carolina Beer Company
Style: Brown Ale
Mooresville, North Carolina USA

Dark red-brown with a tan head. Sweet hoppy nose. Thin-bodied, but nice bitter nutty flavors and a citric-acidic finish.

This is the darkest IPA I’ve ever had. Almost black. Salty, hoppy, overall solid beer. Not the best IPA I’ve ever had but I could get used to sampling this offering. Thanks go to Ross for sending me this beer.

Bottled. I happened to find this beer for 1 dollar per 6 pack when they were trying to clear it off the shelves for the next seasonal about 2 years ago. I was quite happy.

Pours a deep mohogany brown with a small slightly off-white head. Aroma is huge with grassy and citrussy hops and maybe some pine as well (C hops for sure). Surprisingly some toffee and roasted malt comes through as well. Taste is of initially sweet caramel and toffee with a substantial malt backbone to keep up with the exelllent hop profile. Citrus, pine and grass with a complementing amount of bitterness that lingers. Finish is dry. Mouthfeel is smooth and medium bodied with the right amount of carbonation. Excellent beer I feel. I don’t understand how it didn’t sell and that they were desperately trying to get rid of it. I got six 6pks.

On tap at the brewery. Poured a deep brown color with a creamy tan head. The flavor was nice and hoppy, though it lacked the overall fruitiness and complexity of the Endo. A great local brew.

Rerate: This time the 8.5% version this beer has a lot more body to it this time. Appearance is darker and a little bit more of an aroma. I don’t see how anyone could not say this is not an improvement. A very nice offering from Cottonwood. Tastes similar to Celebration Ale, though the finish seems a little flat.

The Cottonwood website describes this as an aggressively hopped brown ale, but this is clearly an IPA. Only a hint of roasted malts give a nod to the brown it proclaims to be. Somewhat hazy reddish brown, decent head. Nose is grapefruit mixed with a bit of earth, nicely hoppy. Flavors begin with a bit of roasted malt that quickly moves into a grapefruity hop finish. Leaves a bit of an acrid taste in the mouth. A good effort from this brewer.

Tawny, nut-brown color, under a big, rocky, puffy, creamy-colored head, attractive and enticing. Aroma, nicely spicy, nutmeg and cloves, a bit roasty, with a good whiff of malt, good character, though I didn’t get so much of the hops that the label boasts of. Taste: smooth landing on the palate, rife with dark flavors, rich, full-bodied. Hops arrive on the palate, and please the tongue, matched masterfully with malt. Nutty flavor predominates, though, mixed well with spices. Light, brisk finish.

Name: Frostbite
Date: November 05, 1999
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewfest, Duramn, NC, Winter
Appearance: dark amber, big tan head
Aroma: strong grassy centenial hop aroma
Flavor: medium malt flavor with lots of not too bitter hop flavor, hint of sweetness even

Name: Frostbite
Date: January 26, 2002
Source: Barley’s, Ashville
Appearance: nice lace
Aroma: light aroma
Flavor: lots of hop flavor

Name: Frostbite
Date: May 04, 2005
Appearance: hazy amber
Aroma: big hoppy aroma with nice sweetness
Flavor: lots of hop flavor backed up by a good sweet malt base, nice bitter finish

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.7/5.0
Score: **4

The score was calculated based upon the notes and an old scoring system.