Winters Bourbon Cask Ale

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

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.

Always a bit too sweet, it has some nice things happening though. The bourbon comes through and so does the vanilla, the latter overpowering the entire flavor. A little too sticky sweet. Smells nice, sort of like bourbon and vanilla. Palate is a little bit watery. A guy at a beer store told me he thought it tasted like when you leave a jack and coke out overnight and the ice melts.... that is not completely off base.

Well, I finally had an A-B product that didn’t make me gag. Although not good, this was fairly decent, and easy enough to drink. Best of all, it was free. Finally, having a friend that works for A-B has paid some dividends, albeit small ones. Anyway, an amber ale with very little aroma, small head, no lacing. Flavor was sweet, with a little bourbon flavor. I don’t know what they mean by "warms you to the core" because there was nothing typically winter about this one. Just a fairly lifeless ale, with a little bourbon flavor mixed in. I’d drink it again though, which is more than can be said with most products from this brewery.

Draught. WTF!!!! I can’t believe I fell for the crafty name without further inquiry. OK A-B, you got me. Poured clear copper with no head. Aroma of sweet caramel and vanilla, oak chips, and cool whip. Sweet vanilla-toffee flavor with maybe some almond. Despite the intriguing flavor profile, everything seems artificial. As properly stated below, more like cream soda than beer. Thin and watery texture doesn’t help. Coming to a TGIF near you.....

12oz bottle. Pours a butterscotch color head with an orange amber body. Smells of vanilla and caramel. Tastes of vanilla and toffee.

Bottle. Amber-red pour with an off white head. Medicinal aroma...burnt sugar and some oak. The flavor was kinda cream-sodaish, vanilla, coconut...artificial cherry. Light body, overly carbonated with a somewhat creamy finish. Bleh.

A thin head that is tan, it quickly dissipates. The color is dark amber with carbonation bubbles. The aroma is toasted malt, a slight hint of bourbon and vanilla. The taste is malt and vanilla with hints of bourbon. The mouth feel is watery and thin. There is hardly a finish on it.

Putting aside for a minute the fact that this is an AB product (and I’m guessing most raters aren’t) this is not a bad beer at all. In fact, I’m guessing in a blind taste test, it would do better than many of the fruit, smoke and other gimmick beers I’ve seen and had. And note, I generally am not an AB fan. Poured to an amber color with good carbonation, but absolutely no head or lacing. However, aroma was a very pleasant mix of vanilla, bourbon and oak, all true to its name. Taste was more of the vanilla-bourbon blend, which was sweet on the palate and warm in the finish. The only drawback is that this would not be a session beer, as one or two of the vanilla sweetness is plenty.