Winters Bourbon Cask Ale

Draught at 69 Taps. Dark gold color with small beige head. Very weak aroma and flavors. Spicey and a little malty with some vanilla. Too light and boring though.

12 oz. bottle. Pours a crystal clear copper color with a small white head that is gone before the first sip. The aroma what little there is is sweet malt and vanilla. The flavor is sweet malt and vanilla and very little of anything else. No roasted malt, no oak, no bourbon. Light and thin. A bit disappointing, but not unexpected from AB.

Bottle. Pours a medium brown with thin head. Aroma is full of caramel malt, some vanilla. Flavor is on the sweeter side, malty, mostly caramel, and strongly vanilla. Slightly buttery as well, with only just the faintest hint of oak, if any. This one should be called vanilla ale. Not really all that bad considering the brewer.

From Bottle: Has a dark brown color and aroma of caramel. Flavors of caramel with a strong vanilla overtone. Overall, not a bad attempt from AB as far as I’m concerned, but the vanilla does taste a little strong to the point of having some extract dropped into every bottle.

Aroma has a light vanilla scent with a slight oak tone in the back. Color is a deep golden brown with light carbonation and a thin head. Taste is mild, sweet and caramely. Stating with a a light body it goes down easy with a smooth feel. Finish comes in sweet with a caramel taste that is backed by a nice vanilla flavor. In the after taste there is a faint oak flavor. As you drink it the vanilla flavor becomes more noticeable and it seems to become more caramel like. In the end I like, I think a Winter brew should be a little bold then this but considering that this is from Anheuser-Busch very impressive.

interesting concept - poured in pint glass - had the color of a bock or decent IPA - no foam or lacing. Sweet tasting - an after taste of cream soda which, while not necessarily unpleasant, tasted a little forced and/or artificial - as if maybe a half a packet of Sweet & Low was added at bottling. Still, points to A&B for shrewd marketing and trying to bring a craft experience to the everyman.

Sigh. Got this one out of curiosity. I’m ashamed that my place of employ carries it, but I can buy a single cheaply (and this is going to personify cheapness and disappointment, I fear). Before I open the damn bottle, I predict this is going to have a hint of something mediocre, only to be boldly punctuated by something much, much less than that. Pours bronze with a good, foamy head. So far, so good. Aroma? Artificial vanilla. Not much else. I’m about to sip. Will I be blasted across the face with artificial vanilla-ness to be followed with a mere shadow of pisswater? We shall see... The vanilla kinda comes in the middle, not as artificial as I expected, a kinda full bodied experience at the forefront, and then... crap. Guess I called it. Guess I’ll pour this one out, head to Sam Smith and a hot shower for some consolation and wait for the next AB seasonal and go through this entire exercise of self-flagellation once again... sigh...

Sneaky AB product. Are they too ashamed to put AB larger on the label? Bottle. Pours a crystal clear copper, with a thick, dense head. Some heavy malt tones, with vanilla as well. Smooth, with a sweet vanilla flavor. A bit too sweet and too much vanilla for me.