Samuel Smiths Winter Welcome Ale

Brewed by Samuel Smith
Style: English Strong Ale
Tadcaster, England

Clear orange with a solid white head. Musty aroma of caramel malt and floral hops. More toffee, caramel, and a fuggel-like bitterness. Didn’t taste the seaweed, thank God. Average.

Bottled. Rubyish amber colour, mediumsized white head. Aroma is caramel malts and some sweeter hops. Flavour is metallic, caramelly and grassy/earthy hoppy. Nice but quite watery.

Pours a clear orange color into the dimpled mug with an inch of white, fluffy head. The scent was fairly mild with some floral notes, hops, malt and some citrus fruit. The taste was a decent mix of faint citrusy hops and toffee. Not very complex at all, rather thin and unexciting. I was let down by this beer.

Aroma is a mild malt scent. Color is a deep clear golden brown with light carbonation and a thin head. Taste is malty, bitter and roasted. Starting with a medium body it goes down with a smooth feel and a bitter bite at the end. Finish comes in bitter with a mild malt flavor then leaves a slight sweet roasted flavor in the after taste. Its an interestingly complex brew and is better then I remember.

I am a Samuel Smith’s nut, which is why this one disappoints. The Nut Brown Ale, the Oatmeal Stout, and the Imperial Stout are really the best beers I’ve ever had. I want the rest of the Sam stable to be as good, but alas, they are not. Anything Sam makes has something special about it. I just can’t get over those heads. And the mouthfeel is always above the rest - - something somehow rich and buttery. But flavorwise I just don’t find all that much special about this. Better than most stuff I run into? Yes. Good for a Sam’s? Meh. I’m going to put this same review on the Organic Ale and the Organic Lager because it’s the same with them. I’ll take them over non-Sam beers, but they fall short Sam-wise.

GREAT AMBER COLOR, WITH HINTS OF CITRUS IN THE SCENT. NOT QUITE AS HARSH AS OTHER WINTER ALES WHICH MAKES IT A WELCOME CHANGE.

Bottled (BBE 08/2008)
Amber color, good creamy beige head. Nutty, lemony aroma, nose is not very strong. Slightly liquerish, old ale -type palate, but ligther than they usually are. Nutty malty, hints of alcholic in the end. Quite simple and such a bit boring winter warmer.

Big offwhite head shrinks slowly. Amber body with ongoing carbonation. Soft, syrupy, caramelly aroma with notes of dried fruit. Very harmonic, but not very strong. Sweetish papery caramelly taste with vague fruity, hoppy, metallic notes. Clean, sharpish palate. Somewhat thin-bodied. Dry nutty metallic aftertaste. Good, but much lighter than expected, and not really a great beer. (0.55l bottle ordered from the Wine Monopoly.)