North Coast Wintertime Ale

Formerly brewed at North Coast Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Fort Bragg, California USA

Thick and dark. This tasted strong and malty; full of spices (as expected), but there was a distinct "Tart" tangy flavor at the finish that I really did not care for - was that yeast presence or what? It did not seem to belong in this particular brew.

This is a keeper. For a winter ale this one is rather refreshing. very nice flavor kind of fruity. I look for this every year!

Murky orange with very little head. The aroma is spicey with hints of apples. The flavor is spicey with nutmeg and maybe cinnamon. It has a watery finish, though. This beer is almost refreshing, and for a winter ale it shouldn't be. Overall it's not that bad, but I expected a lot more from this one.

Another veggie spice brew. This one came from dasilky1's beer closet. Lots of flavor, lots of spice. The distribution of flavor is all overthe place, going from wood to grapefruit to nutmeg. A understated rust color, average head. An all around enjoyable brew.

Typically I like North Coast's stuff, however, not this one. The spice/herb/vegetable just seems to me to be a disgusting category. Smells bad, looks decent in the glass. Tastes worse than it smells. Avoidable.

B'gack!!!! Thatsa one'a spicey meataball!!!! This one poured a bright orangey amber color with a nice degree of just off white creamy head that laced pretty nicely and exhibited a good degree of carbonation. Aroma is all over the place and very hard to distinguish yet somewhat pleasant. I picked up everything from Mint, cloves, malt, cork, wood, nutmeg, ginger, grapefruit and pepper. The taste however is where the wonder ends. Its interesting and new, but very astringent and unwelcoming to the palate. Heavy gingery pepper presence, with lemon, grapefruit, fig, and malt presence. Dry finish, with moderate malty and dark fruity afternotes. The ginger is just overwhelming here, and not being a fan of ginger creates a bit of a problem. I give it a good effort though, and it is a decent brew, but nothing i thought to spectacular of. Thanks to DaSilky1 for the beer.

I didn't like this as much as other North Coast products. Nice deep orange color, with a thin head. Oddly thin-bodied, with a lot of malt and little bitterness. There's some fruitiness as well. Maybe some age would work on it.

Nice dark orange, amber color. Sweet spicy aroma with peat? undertones. Fruity...somewhat like a mulled wine flavor. A bit too sweet and thin. Needs a bit more body and some balancing hops in flavor and aroma. North Coast, I know you can do better next year.