Samuel Smiths Winter Welcome Ale

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

A clear golden beer with little head. The aroma is sweet & malty. The taste is sweet, malty & is mild & smooth easy drinking.

550ml bottle. Poured a dark copper color with a light tan head and decent lacing. The aroma is rich toasted bread, caramel, and dark fruit. The taste has a deep caramelized maltyness with nice touches of earthy hops and dark fruit. Medium bodied with nice carbonation and a slightly bitter finish.

This orange/copper ale poured with a fluffy beige head and a toffee aroma. There is a pretty good caramel malt base, but there is an unpleasant aftertaste, maybe from the seaweed, that makes it a little difficult to drink.

Crystal clear orange copper in color with a thick foamy head. Big malty aroma like fresh crusty bread. Clean malty flavor with slight toffee butterscotch undertones and hops aftertaste. Overall, I can see this as a good beer to drink when it’s cold outside...

I’m rating 2007-2008 Year bottle. Aroma: Caramel malts, hint of honey. Appearance: Orange-Copper clear. Poured with medium head but no retention or lacing. Flavor: Carmel malts, light honey, light hops. Palate: medium body, average carbonation, medium finish. Overall impression: Not the winter beer I normally think about but very good beer and really drinkable. It’s a good mass market beer but to a beer affectionado it lacks backbone.

Had at an Old Chicago for a Christmas mini-tour. A really nice beer from a brewery we all know and love.

It’s easy to forget that winter is a season longer than a few weeks when one lives in sunny Florida. I am certainly not complaining; I live here because I love the warm weather and sunshine. But, when it is sunny and warm in the wintery months of January and February, pouring oneself a Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale is a bit of a conundrum. I first fell in love with this particular ale a few years back when I came across it while in Rogers, AK for work. Being a dry county and seeing as our stay was for three weeks, many runs were made across the border to a wet county and one of the coolest liquor stores I have come across yet. It was there in the thrust of winter that I discovered this English classic, and each year since I look forward to its wintery release. I am happy to say that it hasn’t changed since and is still as good as ever.

She poured crystal clear burnt garnet while glints of burnt amber and mahogany polish her surface. A huge puffy head stands tall and proud before fading into a soft blanket. A faint shimmer of copper and mahogany highlight her already luxurious visage. Swirls leave generous trails of lace and release a bouquet of intoxicating wintery aromas. Crisp apples, pears, and plums ripe for picking delight while sun-soaked white raisins and pineapples transport me to the tropics. Giving her brisk nose depth and warmth is a generous helping of cinnamon, nutmeg, and powdered sugar while a buttery essence with honey part with a sweet kiss. Together, they meld and mix perfectly, reminding me of why I fell in love with her so long ago. The first of many quaffs is clean, crisp and replete with spices. The top of my tongue tingles while fresh crunchy pears, apples, kiwi, pineapples, and raisins delight. Honey coats my lips even as the winter spices start to dry the top of my tongue, creating a pleasant mouth-watering thirst which I am more than happy to oblige. Her buttery creaminess which was just a whisper in her nose is also but a whisper in her palate, melding with the gentle honey which lingers softly in the background. As my Winter Welcome Ale warms, our time together also diminishes. Far quicker than I would have liked, we must part. One last embrace of crunchy summer and tropical fruits with a sprinkling of spices finishes with a final kiss of sweet honey nectar atop toast.

There are quite a few winter beers that I look forward to every year and make it a point to buy. It would be close to impossible to buy all the winter beers that come out each year. Between cost and the reality of having to own a mansion, or climate-controlled warehouse, to put it all in, I find myself enjoying the pick and choose of the great Winter Beer quest each year. Make no doubt though, Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale will always be close to the top of my list.

2005-2006 Edition. This poured a very clear copper colour and was well carbonated, producing a modestly-sized foamy head, off-white in colour. The aroma of hops was clearly evident, even when standing away from the glass. Taste was mostly of hop with some underlying caramel. I quite liked this beer.