Winters Bourbon Cask Ale

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

With a the name "Winters Bourbon Cask Ale" I’m thinking this beer would be over the top with hearty flavor. However, knowing its brewed by A-B my expectations were scaled back. The beer was right where I thought it would be, just a hint of caramel, oak and vanilla. It makes me wonder if A-B brewed an excellent beer then blended it with a pale lager. It has a watered down taste to it.

My father-in-law was so excited to bring this home. We tasted this... Pour was brown with tan head. Nose had some vanilla and caramel, and a distinct LACK of wood. Taste had some vanilla, more like and after thought. Not a good example of a wood aged brew. Really not bad here. Shared a GI BCS with the old man afterward, knocked him down!

Draught: I’m glad that I didn’t find out this was an AB product until I sat down to type in the review. Knowing it was an A-B product may have unknowingly rated it lower than I should. Anyway, this one pours a clear, dark amber color. There was about no head and no lacing at all. The nose was a bit weak, but still pleasant. Whiffs of toffee, caramel and vanilla. The taste ws a bit more substantial, with notes of the toffee, slight oakiness, and it was slightly sweet. It was fairly silky and smooth going down also. This was actually not bad. It is NOT a cask ale, and I really didn’t detect any bourbon flavors in it also. Re-rate 1-19-2006: Boy, is this different from last year. The vanilla is now overpowering. There is a bit of a dry, metallic aftertaste that comes with a hint of bitterness. What happened????

(draught) Dark amber, very little head. Slightly sweet aroma. Flavor was sweetish malt, definite bourbon and some hints of oak. Only a little vanilla. No great, but decent. I wonder what it would score in a blind taste test if people didn’t know it was an A-B product?

Clear amber with a frothy stable off white head. Mild yeasty, earthy, toffee aroma. Flavors of crystal malt and boubon with hints of vanilla and toasted cookie. Thin body. Finishes with some astringency. Not horrible.

Bottle... Poured amber with a light brown head that faded immediately. Aroma was terrible and really disturbed my nasal passage, anyway there wasn’t much, just a dirty water smell. No carbonation which made a very unbalanced palate against the flavors. Tasted of vanilla and some malt and a stinging sweetness. This is the first I’ve had of the new craft line from Michelob, I wasn’t expecting much, but this was really bad.

Bottled. Pour a rather light bronze colour for a winter ale with a thin white film on top. Slight vanilla and bananas in the aroma. WOW, artificial tasting vanilla flavouring covers any other flavour. Thin watery mouthfeel and palate plus a burnt finish. Better than most ABC junk but that’s not saying much

Bottle. Didn’t have that bad of an aroma, vanilla. The downside is it’s pretty weak, like they just took Budweiser and added vanilla extract, too carbonated, but I enjoyed it none the less.