Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Lakewood, New York USA

[25 Dec 2007] Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale is clear and tawny with a small off-white head. The aroma is of dark roast, sweet sugar and perhaps spice. There is grain in the nose. It is light-to-medium bodied and crisp. The flavor is dark, sweet and bitter with almost a smokiness. I don’t think these guys make any bad beers. [16 Mar 2008] I got a bottle of this from a coworker that’s been in his cellar for four years or so. There is a lot of white sediment in the bottle. It is clear and amber with a thin white head. The aroma is sweet and dominated by fruity esters. It’s perhaps a bit floral. It has a medium body that’s quite smooth and slick. The flavor showcases those fruity esters again. By the end of the taste, it turns roasty. The aftertaste is a little sour. It has a lot of port wine qualities-- quite a bit of twang! Aging this really made it seem like an Old Ale. The aroma was a little strange, the flavor a little more focused and the palate improved. I’d still give this a 3.2, with a palate of 4/5 and an aroma of 6/10.

Aroma is grainey malt and black pekoe tea9probaly coming from the hopping, taste is mildy sweet malt,its concession to being a holiday brew,more red sucker then caramel, and a spicey hop finish,relaxing safely brewedbeer,but sipping and pondering its richness,ah no.

Hazy amber color. Caramel aroma, some hop. Strong caramel flavor, with sweetness and a good body strength; also the bitterness level is good, the final has sweet nuts too. Not complex but fairly good.

Poured a deep brown color with a light lacy head. Not much of an aroma, but the flavor was awesome. A really deep malty nutt flavor with a sweet alcohol finish. Tastes like a lot of the Southern Tier beers....which is a good thing. No offense to some of the more recent raters of this beer, but one of them actually rated Red Dog higher than this, which is ludicrous.

12 oz bottle-ruby red color, slightly cloudy w/o much of a head. Faint malt aroma. Bitter hop finish w/a trace of caramel malt. Kind of short & flat. Has a slight medicinal aftertaste. Short, bitter finish. People keep raving about these beers; second one I’ve had. First one was a bad bottle; this one was nothing special.

Smell is somewhat malty and sweet. Appearance is clear dark brown with no gunk on the bottom of the bottle, must be filtered. No carbonation on the palate, nearly flat. Strong alky taste and pretty malty bitter. Difficult to enjoy for a lager lover. Alky content is very present in the flavor. Bitter lingering medicine finish.

Draft at SL. Pours a red-brown color, decent head and lacing. The aroma was roasty, juniper/spicey, caramel and brown sugar. The flavor was much the same, but the spicey spruce or juniper notes did not work for me, leaving behind a base beer that might have been more enjoyable, but too ESA/brown ale-ish for me to have fallen in love with anyway. Mouthfeel was full and zingy from the carbonation and spicing.

12 oz. bottle. Mahogany pour with a cream colored frothy head. Aroma of toffee malts generally, with some cookie or cake and a leafy/earthy component. Earthy malt flavors, with twiggy hops and a spicy touch at the end. Medium to full bodied with an even carbonation. Not a bad styling from ST.