Highland Cold Mountain Winter Ale

Brewed by Highland Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Asheville, North Carolina USA

Draft at O’Malley’s in Sylva, NC. Dark cooper color with sweet, light brown head. Outstanding winter brew! Smooth and delicious blend of spices. Cinnamon, vanilla, maybe a bit of chocolate? This is a great wintertime beverage. Better get some soon...it sold out fast last year...we had to hunt all over Western North Carolina last year starting in December. I’ve already started to stock up. If you like winter ales, you will not be disappointed with a cold, Cold Mountain!

Best seasonal ale I’ve ever tasted. The only reason I can’t give this beer a perfect score is that at first glance/sniff, it doesn’t immediately reveal itself as the incredible beer it is.

Probably my favorite seasonal I’ve ever drank. Reddish inviting color with a nice tan top. Tastes of cinnamon and spices. Extremely smooth going down. Can’t wait until winter to drink it in context. Great beer.

From notes 1/1/04: 1-liter wax-enveloped Grolsch-type stopper bottle. Pours a deep ruby red color with plenty of mahogany tones to it. A large tan head formed easily with a rough pour and reduced after quite some time to a thin collar of foam around the edges with a murky Rorschact test of froth floating in the middle of the beer. Laces well with ample patterns of bubbles and froth inside my glass. Aromas were HUGE and heavenly! Spicy and warming. A solid toasty malt scent drizzled with cinnamon, nutmeg, and caramel. Smells like a dandy. The flavor also was out of this world. Big malts (more toasty with a touch of roastiness) and a lifetime supply of cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, caramel...along with the sweet airy flavors of fruity meltaways. A hint of bubblegum in the background, with a rush of fresh cotton candy (pink, not blue). A faint breeze of hoppiness softly dances across the palate. Holy schnikies this was a New Year’s Eve treat with dinner! Solid mouthfeel. If only the ABV could legally be higher so we could really see how big they could make this beer... Absolutely drinkable. Outstanding. Sad that the liter bottle I shared with the neighbor disappeared so quickly. Tempted to nab another liter from my stash, but there were more beers to drink that night.

The perfect winter/christmas beer. In my opinion the best beer made in North Carolina. I enjoyed this beer on tap better than the bottle. Hint of ginger bread with nutmeg and mulling spice.

Thanks to brentk56 for sending this want along in his black booty package 22oz bomber poured in to my DFH snifter produced a two finger tan head that trailed of to a thick lace the body of the brew was a nice burgandy color when held to the light The aromas coming of it are quite pleasing Coco not roasted in any ways, some sweet caramel malt, vanilla and other spices I associate with winter. The flavor is quite a surprise, I really like it. The ale was like a malted milk chocolate, but the wrong color if you know what I mean. Just a creamy and full in the mouth as I would expect. The sweetness was there along with the vanilla. I was really blow away by this one and will defiantly look for it again next year. A great winter warmer one of the best I have tried

Had bottle from 2006-07 winter. Very nice chocolatey ale with medium body. Hints of nutmeg, cinamon, vanilla, and caramel. Probably the best winter seasonal I have ever had as Highland has resisted the temptation to overly spice the beer or add gimmick flavoring like candy cane or licorice as some other south regional brewers do with their winter seasonals. I will definitely look for this beer again when it is in season this coming winter.

The great thing about this beer is that all these critiques offer their opinion of what spices where in the beer, but the combo is always going to be different. This has been my favorite Highland. I’ve found myself proud of Asheville for such an excellent ale.