Winters Bourbon Cask Ale

Brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
St. Louis, Missouri USA

12oz bottle. Aroma of Frosted Flakes, vanilla, vanilla, alcohol and nuts. Pours Dark orange with a thin white head. The beer tastes like Lucky Charms. Not the marshmallows but the frosted "cereal" parts after they have been soaking in milk for a bit too long. Hardly any vanilla, certainly no bourbon influence. Thin, metallic finishing with some abrasive copper notes.

Had this on tap at the Neenah, WI Holiday Inn. The bartender thought it was brewed by Stevens Point Brewery but alas, he was mistaken. At any rate, this wasn’t too bad. It poured a crystalline deep amber with a sizable off-white head. Faint whiff of vanilla in the aroma with some nuttiness. First taste is moderate malt with overtones of vanilla wafers & yes, a smidgen of bourbon. The tastes get more pronounced as the beer warms. Very smooth & creamy mouthfeel. Maybe a little too subtle to be a "winter warmer" but nonetheless, a decent brew.

Rerate 2008 because this beer has changed alot. MUch more caramel in the beer now, and a nice lingering vanilla caramel aftertaste. No more metallica finish. Very clean solid beer with a nice body, slightly watery on the back end. This gets dumped on cause of its association with AB but I actually like this alot as a session beer during the holidays.

It wasn’t too bad of a beer, I definately could not taste or smell much of the vanilla that was mentioned on the label (and was also the reason I wanted to try it to begin with). Nice color, nice aftertaste. I’d definately drink it again, thought I wouldn’t call it a favorite.

On tap-Old Chicago. hard to pour off tap with no head, but somehow this beer managed. Nose is loaded with extract vanilla, really sweet caramel/toffee and faint spice. Flavor is nothing but vanilla through and through, hard to get past. Watery thin mouthfeel. What did you expect though.

Poured a clear orange/red color with a thin head. There were some carbonation bubbles rising in the glass. The best part of this beer was the appearance. There was a aroma of hops, but not much else. Very faint if any vanilla scent. Everything about the taste was mild too. There was a little hop crispness and bite and a bit of sweetness, but not much there to speak off. The beer just didn’t have alot of flavor for being aged in oak barrells and there must have been 1 vanilla bean in the whole batch. I had a bottle of this last year and thought it was better at that time, but after drinking much better beers in comaparison I can now see where this one is lacking.

pours a light ruby-copper-amber with a yellowish tan head. aroma of light bourbon, caramel, vanilla. definately a sweet aroma. flavor has faint notes of dark fruit, some malt, a dab of spice, and a strange marshmallow taste. not getting any real oak barrel taste at all. the vanilla is there, though it is also pretty faint. taste is kinda of weak, flavor leaves quickly. honestly, it’s not that great. why AB can’t seem to figure out how to brew a decent beer is beyond me, and now they’re just trying to dip into the microbrew market. problem is, microbrews are only successful if they’re GOOD! sorry, just venting ;). overall, it’s an okay beer to bring to a holiday get together amongst non-beergeeks.

12oz bottle: im trying to be fair with this beer even though i know its from the same brewery that puts out 1 out of every to beers drank in the US. the aroma is just slightly off not bad but not desirable. the appearance is the strong point on the beer nice amber color with a decent white head. flavor screams big brewery at me. its pretty watered down which i expected but at the same time there is a bit of flavor there now it wasnt so diluted with water i would be able to describe it a little bit better but the spices come through just a bit making this somewhat decent despite who it was who brewed it. i didn’t buy this beer but if it cost anywhere near what a microbrew costs i would never try it again BUT it at the same price as coors or bud it would be a decent social beer. im trying as hard as i can not to be biased here and this is why you have. a middle of the road big brewery attempt at something the micros have been doing for year, make good beer. A. Busch you got a lot of work to do if you want to make something worth drinking.