Winters Bourbon Cask Ale

Bottle, like hopdog, I had a "Sample Ale, Not For Sale" white label. Pours a nice clear copper/brown with a small head. Small amount of lacing, hints of oak and caramel, with more vanilla flavor. The finish is fairly clean, bubbly and a vanilla. Very surprised with this after hearing (and reading) so many harsh remarks. Maybe the sample bottle is different, I *may* have it on draft this evening.

Body is a ruby brown with no head. Aroma is caramel, oak, vanilla, and chocoalte. Taste is heavy with vanilla, light oak, some of the caramel is there, mainly heavy on the vanilla. It’s not bad, but the vanilla is overdone.

A reddish brown appearance with a moderate beige head. A strong vanilla, caramel, and plum aroma. The flavor is very much vanilla with some caramel and bit of whiskey in there also. This isnt bad but it starts tasting like a vanilla ice cream cone after a while. It was interesting but I probably wouldnt buy it again

12oz bottle. Bottle had a white label with ’Sample Ale, Not for Sale’ on it. Poured a deeper copper, almost brown color (clear) with an averaged sized off white head. My initial thought when I smelled this was vanilla ice cream (actually getting hungry for some!). Other aromas of caramel and very light oak. I didn’t find the aromas as offensive as most people (granted the vanilla aspect is overboard, but just the thought of vanilla ice cream, yummy). Tastes of wood, vanilla (a lot lighter than the aroma), light roast, and light caramel. Thin body. Maybe my ’sample batch’ was different than the commercial batch, but for a Busch beer, this was quite drinkable.

Nice looking ale, amber.clear with a lovelly thick, tight bubbly tan head. The aroma is however decidely on the weak side, smells like a maltier Bud with a touch of wood. Definatlly strong vanilla flavours and again a touch of woodiness, maybe just a barest hint of bourbon. Kinda thin for the style. Its drinkable but this could have been so much better had they filled up the malts to give a more robust frame for the vanilla. OK try for A-B.

I don’t care what anyone says, I think this stuff is good. Doesn’t taste like beer - tastes like candy. Real sugary with malty body and absolutely no hops. I put flavor before style guidelines or anything else and I really like this beer. Strong strong vanilla taste with sweet malt at the front. Look forward to buying this again. Just think candy not beer when drinking it and it is really enjoyable.

Unique is probably the kindest way to describe this beer. Vainilla Coke is another. The beer pours a very red reddish brown with a small fizzy off-white head that recedes quickly. The aroma is like a bottle of vanilla extract. No hop aroma. Light notes of caramel. Vanilla overpowers anything else that might have been on the palate (which is quite thin, by the way). I think I tasted a hop briefly, and a few malts. But to pull this off, you have to sip quickly so you begin to not notice the vanilla. There’s no depth of character in any aspect. I guess it’s a novelty item.

One of the top 5 worst beers I have ever had. It tastes exactly like what you might expect from a macro brew trying to create-- on the cheap, that is-- a micro-brew: imagine a glass of Budweiser being stirred by a stick of vanilla. Simply awful. The color is a dark amber, but there is nothing in the flavor. I bought a six pack of this stuff; fortunately I have friends that tolerate these types of beer.