Left Hand Snow Bound Winter Ale

Formerly brewed at Left Hand Brewing Co.
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Longmont, Colorado USA

Pours a very clear and deep copper with a thin tan head that mostly dissipates after a few minutes but laces the glass thickly. The aroma is malty with hints of spices - some nutmeg and ginger. The combination is reminiscent of gingerbread cookies. The beer’s flavor starts slowly - bubbly and mildly malty-sweet. The middle of the tongue finds more sweet flavors - caramel and toffee - along with mild spices (same as in the aroma - like faint flavors of gingerbread). The mouthfeel is nice and light, but bubbly and creamy. The finish is medium in body and the after-taste is short and minimal. Overall it’s pretty good - but it doesn’t really stand out.

Very dark brown in color. Thin-looking, but actually relatively full on the palate. Honey sweetness and cinnamon/nutmeg/clove spice up front are true to the aromas of this beer. Maple sugar sweetness and caramel malts. Faint citrus in the background.

Pours a gorgeous russett brown with a thin head. The aroma is a strong, but not overwhelming spiciness (nutmeg and maybe cinnamon, something coming across as peper) over a slight bit of orange and a bit of honey. There’s a bit of heat in the back.

Bomber. Definite spice in the nose. Nutmeg, cinnamon and orange zest are all evident. Similar to Great Lakes Christmas in that way. However, there is something that I am not overly enamored with in the aroma; perhaps it is that after enjoying many brews this holiday season with similar aromas, that I have tired of it. Very dark body whose red hues and clarity can only be seen when held up to light. Large tan head that is lasting, with excellent lace. Plentiful visible carbonation. Initial mouthfeel is strong; tastes like it smells. The alcohol initially is borderline harsh. Plenty sweet, although not cloyingly so. I wish I had a Lakefront Holiday Spice to do a side-by-side with. This brew had many similar qualities but just doesn’t come together as well. I can’t really isolate a reason for it. In a holiday beer, I look for either warming qualities or spices and with this brew you get both. Tastes considerably more alcoholic than Corsendonk Christmas Ale, even though that brew is nearly a full percent higher in ABV. It comes down to the fact that Snow Bound just isn’t as delightful as Lakefront Holiday Spice. It’s not quite sweet or fruity enough to balance the harsh alcoholic bite. It’s a pretty decent brew nonetheless and it’s 75% style percentile is about right.

Brown pour with a thin, yet creamy tan head. Spice, brown sugar, roasted malt and ginger are in the strong aroma. Moderate carbonation and the spice really comes out in the flavor, along with some vanilla, nutmeg and alcohol. Towards the end of the bomber, this beer really strikes me as flavorful, but thin. It’s pretty good.

With the chilling embrace of Colorado’s 2006 Christmas miracle still clogging the highways and residential roads, and no sign of a concerted angioplasty to clear paths, I headed down to my refrigerator to make a toast. The snow was inevitable, unavoidable and heavy, and if it was going to invite itself to my home I might as well drink to its honor and be done with the formality. Seizing on the pun I chose the bottle of Snowbound I had from my box of seasonal brews and held the label art up to my front door. It had become a very familiar scene in the last couple of days. But somewhere I was glad for it. The snow had pressed neighbors together, and brought one man to his fellow man in an admirable display of brotherly love which sunny conditions would deign to bring about. Also, it is great fun to throw someone shorter than you into a six foot snow drift and watch them struggle to get out. So a toast it was; a kind of commemoration to a vast white misery for anything that wanted to go somewhere, and an underlying nod of approval for all the good things it did and does. Left Hand’s Snow Bound is a very Janus-faced beer, I think, where the first taste was anathematic to my buds, and each sip after that more agreeable. When I first gave it a try I thought I had sampled a bitter salad smoothie with all the nasty tongue curling greens that make up the mainstay of vegan arrogance. You know those spiny, purplish leaves that always show up in salads simply because they won some accolades from a dietician somewhere? It tasted like those, and sent a wave of disapproval through my body down to my toes. But successive sips of the dark and honey-orange beer proved to be sweeter and more appealing. Past the thick, dense and protective head, within that brew was a Yin-Yang chemistry where the flavor was at once bitter leaves and then sweet with spice. Saffron, nutmeg, brown sugar, cinnamon, chalk, celery seed conducted the drinker to a more dulcet part of the beer. The smell was by far the sweetest facet, practically fuming with redolent pumpkin pie, chai and a bucket load of other mixed spices. There’s a lot of New World trade in this bottle and the brewer’s make no attempt to hide it. A lot of enthusiasm and many empty spice canisters later they’ve produced a marvelously flavored beer that verges on excess, but it’s a dynamic drinking experience to be sure. Each sip exhibits a different dominant flavor, giving each spice a time slot to shine amongst its comrades in flavor. They’re compressed, bumping and pushing, vying for the top spot. The balance shifts with each motion of the glass, such that a simple swirl to accent a speech may change the composition of the beer entirely. Even though the spices are all contesting each other, brought together and residing in the same bottle, they all manage to find their place, much as my neighbors did as we stood helplessly stranded in our inclined cul-de-sac. But, qualities aside, I can always appreciate having a beer like this so perfectly matched to prevailing conditions of snow, ice and an imminent Christmas Eve.

clear dark ruby brown. small white head. an interesting mix of flavors here. sweet malt, coffee, apples, berries(raspberries) and tons of cinnamon and nutmeg. aroma is of tart berries.

Pours dark brown/black with ruby hues and a mostly receding light tan head. Aroma of nutmeg, cinnamon, and dark candied malt. Tastes of caramel, nutmeg, and vanilla. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with moderate carbonation. Interesting, but a bit too spicy for me.