Smoky Mountain Winter Warmer

Brewed by Smoky Mountain Brewery & Restaurant
Style: Old Ale
Gatlinburg, Tennessee USA

Pickled, fruity aroma - grapes. Sweet, raisins, bittering is mostly wood and alcohol and comes into the game late. Some blackberry and vanilla. Medium body overall - a little on the syrupy side when cold, thins out as it warms. Finishes out bitter with a little vinegar. Medium ruby brown and clear.

Draught. Pours a very dark red with small brownish head. The aroma is sweet and malty with some spices. The flavor is also very malty with some raw barley taste, raisin, some burnt sugar. Kind of coarse, but not bad. It did, however, lose my attention about half way through the glass.

This is one of the first old ales I’ve had and I must say it was delightful. Sweetish malt representation was not overpowering. Medium bodied.

Draught at brewery in Gatlinburg, TN. Pours dark maple brown with a small mostly dissipating tan foamy to rocky head with spotty lacing. Chocolate-light and caramel medium roasted malt (meal) and yeast (leather, sour sweat) aromas with a faint citrus hop nose. Yeasty (leather) and light chocolate medium roasted caramel malt nutty flavor, medium bitter and lightly acidic hop finish. Medium bodied and fizzy, refreshing palate. A very pleasant drinkable ale.

on draught. Pours a deep red, though fairly transluscent, with no real head. There’s a dry leafy aroma with plenty of caramel. This has got a sweet, sticky body with some smoky hops and fresh tree bark. The beer is rather fruity and obviously malty sweet, it really reminds me of a much maltier, more complex version of their Oktoberfest. A pint of this stuff is more than enough, it gets harder to finish towards the bottom of a 32oz. glass.

May have been past its prime. Reddish black with a brown head. Nice cinnamon, raisin, licorace, and nutmeg aroma. Very malty, rich with notes of prune and toast. As it warms, though, some serious notes of butterscotch emerge, almost dominating the entire palate. Starts nice, but ended up being difficult to finish.

Great looking deep reddish-amber with almost no head to speak of. Alcohol was noticeable throughout, but not a distraction. Similar in flavor to a Belgian, with ample fruit and nut flavors, though these didn't last very long. Overall, rich and full bodied with a strong finish.

Brown/Copper with tan head. Light, fruity malt aroma. Surprisingly soft on palate, supposedly high in alcohol, although nobody working could answer any questions about abv%'s, or offer proper commercial descriptions for this site's use. Big banana nut bread flavors, soft and fluffy. Alcohol was felt warming my stomach, but barely detectable in the taste.