Winters Bourbon Cask Ale

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

Golden-amber colour. Vanilla nose. Flavor is mostly vanilla as well. Sweet and light with hints of caramel. Actually, it’s got enough balance to be fairly drinkable, much better than other vanilla-oriented macro fare like GI Lion’s Winter Ale.

Burnt amber in color, a bit thin in body compared to the flavor. Big time vanilla aroma and flavor. I think this would have been much better if they upped the alcohol and made it a bit chunkier in body.

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.

Draft at Manny Brown in Newtown, Pa. Not to bad. Slight vanilla taste but that was about it.

This draft brew from the Bowlland bowling alley in North Fort Myers Fla poured a small sized head of foamy finely sized mostly diminishing light brown colored bubbles that left behind a fair lacing. The body contained soft carbonation, was transparent and caramel brown in color. Its aroma contained notes of mild brown malt. Its mouth feel is initially tingly with a lingering tingly palate. Its flavor contained mild nutty brown malt hop notes and was there was something else in the flavor that was hard to place. Wood? Nuts? Bourbon? What is it? A winter ale note?. Strange brew indeed!

Draft at Bowland All Star in No. Ft. Myers, Fl. Tan small head with fine sized bubbles, poor lacing, transparent, no visible carbonation, and an orange hue. Malty, caramel and bourbon nose. Sweet, caramel and bourbon flavor. Tingly mouthfeel. Light-medium body.

Rich copper, very thin head. Nose is roasty malt, cherries, almost light flemish red notes. Flavor is meladonins, cherries, fruit, light bourbon. Really sweet cherry/maraschino notes. Very artificially sweet. Toffee, cocoa & marshmallow comes through as it warms.

Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a fizzy chestnut color with a large caramel colored head. The aroma was tangy vanilla and root beer. The flavor was strong artificial vanilla followed by an overwhelming bitterness and a toasted marshmallow undertone. The finish is sour, tangy and bitter. There is some effort here but the beer falls short.