James Page Winter Warmer Ale

Formerly brewed at Stevens Point Brewery
Style: American Strong Ale
Stevens Point, Wisconsin USA

Pours a dark copper with a thin off-white head. Aroma is loaded with caramel malt and some spice. Body has a good amount of hoppy bitterness and enough caramel sweetness to balance. Finishes bitter and dry. Had no idea this was 8% abv. A nice winter warmer, thanks slikwily.

Light umber liquid with a moderate beige head that settles to a dense lid of small bubbles. Light fruit cake aromas, with dates and raisins, sweet bread and mild spicy hops. First impression is a barleywine lite. Deep caramel, and malt flavors. Seems to thin in feel as it warms. Mild fruit and a touch of earthy pine hops. Touch of alcohol found late in the quaff. Linger is faint and thrifty. A touch more heft to this one and they might have something big! We’ll see what Point does with this one, if they keep it. Thanks CharlesDarwin.

Head is initially average sized, frothy, off-white, mostly diminishing. Body is clear dark amber. Aroma is moderately malty (caramel, cookie), moderately hoppy (resin, pine, grapefruit), lightly yeasty (dough), with notes of toffee and peach. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. Starts with a reasonably pleasing aroma but falls flat after that...very little body or texture, quite citric/sour, and neither well-balanced nor rich.

This brew from SlikWily poured a large head of foamy finely sized light brown colored long lasting bubbles that left behind a fair lace. The body was carbontated and brown in color. The aroma was nice with a mild vinuous caramel malt tone to it. The mouth feel was smooth and slightly tingly. I found myself expecting more from a "Winter Warmer" as it did not warm me up enough and lacked enough vinuousness for the name. It also had a mild caramel malt flavor.

Bottle. Very complex, can't pull out all the flavors. Malt is obvious, but there seem to be oranges, and other fruits in it as well. A slight wood taste as well. I think I found some hints of the typical cinnamon and spice of winter brews. Medium body. Very nice offering from James Page.

2005 bottle as a bonus from CharlesDarwin, consumed on 12/30/2005. Upon opening, DMS is practically flying off the beer. As well, there are some light tea leaves and a growing caramel-toffee, rather English in nature. Amber body is clear, with a beige head, mostly diminishing to cover/ring. DMS leaves fairly quickly and in place, a fruity yeast and sticky toffee. Toffee aroma remains rich and full, with tea-like herbal hops in the background. Flavor is quite toffeeish (butter toffee, English toffee, what have you), with light toasted grains, earthy, almost mossy, plant-like hops. A light note of citrus on the finish, as it warms, seems in slight contrast to the butter toffee, but it is a minor complaint. Body is medium, carbonation quite low and the texture rather plain, light chewiness to light creaminess at times, and not overly filtered. Is this really 8 abv? No sign on that.

I also am of the opinion that this is not a "full-bodied" beer. It is medium bodied at best. The head was small sized, ivory, and creamy and smooth with fine-small sized bubbles that mostly diminished. The body was mostly transparent with fast rising carbonation and a reddish hue. The nose was malty, light hops, spicy and some cinammon notes. The flavor was malty, caramel and spicy notes with a smooth and dry mouthfeel. This beer had average lacing.

What's in a name? Winter Warmer, eh? Well, perhaps. For me, it lacked the real depth of malts--true enough, it has a pleasing dark appearance and wonderful feel in the mouth. It was quite surprising to find out (halfway through the beer) that this was 8% abv, so well-hidden was the alcohol. I didn't get fruitiness here, more caramel with a very strong bounce of hops. Hops in the aroma, hops in the flavor--too much for me to think of the fruity parallels. Thus, it leads me to say that calling this a "winter warmer" had an effect on my expectations. Once I had dismissed that name from my head, I found a very nice, dark American pale ale. Knowing the abv is the only thing that makes me think they were up to something more adventurous. Very good beer!