New Belgium 2° Below Winter Ale

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

pour is clear amber with a tint of orange, small white head, good lacing. smell is malty, sweet, bit of spice, woody, grass and dry leaves. taste is bold, creamy, roasted malt, touch of spice, some hops, ends slightly grassy, a bit dry.

Bottle. Pours a clear copper with thin white head. Aroma is malty sweet with a fair amount of hop spice involved. Flavor comes in well balanced with quite a bit of sweet roasted malt flavors balanced by an equally fat share of bitter and lightly peppery hoppiness. Finish is much of hte same with a hint of herbal hoppiness and being long in duration. I’m pleased with this one and it tastes great with some leftover cheese I had laying in the fridge. Pretty easy drinking and if I had another I’d drink it straight away.

Nice orange brilliant color. Light malt presence in aroma and flavor. I detect very little hop character even though this is apparently dry-hopped. A very easy drinking beer but this is a dull, boring winter beer.

Orange pour with medium frothy head. Sour aroma of malt and some spice from the hops. Tasty! Sweet and spicey. Toasty buttery malt with just enough hops on top. Don’t taste 30 IBU’s at all... I mean theres some definite bitterness but its really in great balance with the sweet malt. Peppery. I like it... not overwhelemed by spice like other winter brews. Little funky in the aftertaste though...

Pours clear copper with a small head. Complex aroma of roasted malts, pepper, pine, and hops that all seem to hit you at slightly different times. Grassy flavour that turns into an interesting combination of roasted malt, pepper, and spices. The finish is a little astringent and there is a lingering malt sweetness. When I first rated this I was a bit harsh on this beer, but after a few bottles it has grown on me a bit. I still can’t say I like the grassy flavour much, but there’s many other flavours in this beer that make up for it. A good beer that does indeed work well for a chilly night.

Copper pour with very small head. Floral nose with pine and spices. Flavor is very grassy with nice hops and some spices. I like this beer...although the finish is a bit weak.

Almost no head to this otherwise pretty coppery, glowing beer. Scent of strawberries promises an enjoyable quaff, but this is belied by the papery, generic set of flavors. Light pepperiness on the tip of my tongue, but otherwise, not particularly memorable. Doesn’t do enough of anything. Good alcohol content masked by some tartness left me a bit more enebriated than i had expected.

Bottle poured rich bronze color with vigorous cream color bubbles settling quickly into a thin ring around the glass. Very bright distinctive hop bouquet on a strong malt backbone. Dry and full flavored, but I would love to try a cask conditioned. It’s very toasty, sweet and warming.