Winters Bourbon Cask Ale

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

Bottle poured dark amber with a nice head. Aroma is sweet and nutty with a hint of vamilla. Flavor is sweet malts, caramel, vanilla and fruits. Not bad.

Reddish brown color with a nice head that fades fast. Not much aroma, some sourness and a little mellow malt sweetness. Taste a little blanc, not much flavor let alone bourbon. A little vanilla and oak.

Draught (at Barley’s in Knox Vegas). Pours mahogany with dissipating off-white head. The aroma is mild biscuit, German aroma hops, lemon, malt, banana, and yeast. The flavor is, well, interesting. It tastes a little bit like hair conditioner smells. There is some banana (the banana comes out more further through the pint), rice, sesame, and wax in there. The people I was with came to a consensus that it tastes like apple toothpaste; I didn’t really pick that up, but I promised I would put it in my rating, and four people agreed on it, so it has merit, I suppose. I didn’t think of this until I read Suttree’s rating, but there is indeed a weird okra tinge to it. Strange stuff. Not outright offensive, but definitely strange.

Surprisingly good brew from AB. A tad on the sweet side but with a moderately complex palate of vanilla and smoke. The syrupy aftertaste reminds me more of a soda than a brew, but a hell of a lot better than most macrobrewed shlock.

On draught @ Busch Gardens Tampa,Fl. Poured a clear copper with small but long lasting head. Aroma of caramel, wood, vanilla. Has a sweet caramel and vanilla flavor with hints of wood and a touch of bourbon. Very little hop bitterness. Not bad for AB. I thought it was better on draught than bottle.

Bottle from Greenwood liquors in Bowling Green, KY. The curiosity go tthe best of me. Pours deep translucent cherry brown, with dissapating off white head. Faint aroma of vanilla. Do you like vanilla ice cream? Do you like a cheap macro ale? Then you will like this beer. There is no oak or hop balance.

Pours a watery looking translucent burgundy-brown color. Produces an inital loose, fluffy tan head which quickly dissapates to a spotty, wispy film. Aroma is definitely dominated by the vanilla bean which seems authentic (as opposed to an artificially infused aroma). If you like tha aroma of vanilla bean in an ale this will seem somewhat pleasing and authentic. Some aromas of spices and toasted malts also appear faintly in the background. Mouthfeel is very disappointing for a beer of this style. Very thin and watery; no heft or body whatsoever. Weak and wimpy. Flavor starts out with some nice notes of vanilla bean, allspice, nutmeg, and roasted malts but unfortunately quickly trancends into a somewhat medicinal finish. I ended up blending one of these with an Anchor 2006 OSA and one with one of my homebrewed 9.2% abv English Strong Ales which rescued it to some extent. Try one if you so desire, but pass on a whole sixer like I did.

Weak, slightly spicy aroma. The appearance is very appalling; the use of a foaming agent is evident in the massive bubbles that form on the side of the glass. Little to no head after the coarse, fake foam dies down. Surprisingly deep nose with a nice spiciness to complement the malt profile. Unfortunately, the AB chemicals show up on the finish as it grinds against the palate with an extreme metallic feeling. Nice try, AB, with attempting a rich tasting beer, but your macro-brewing ways are clearly evident in this sub-par beer. This is clearly a brew designed by a sophisticated brewer, but has also clearly skipped the steps required to make a solid brew. Maybe if they spend some more time on this one, they would have something going on.