Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale

For those of you that have read early posts of mine, you'd know that Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter was one of my favorite beers. As such I was excited to learn that they had a winter warmer line. In fact, Merchant Du Vin, the beer's US distributer, compares the brew to wassail, a type of mulled beer brewed the holiday season that was often spicy. It comes in a bottle that has the year on the label, and apparently the label changes every year. This bottle was brewed for the holidays of 2008-2009. I was definitely looking forward to trying this brew for Christmas this year. Sorry for the blurriness of the picture, I need a new camera badly.

The beer pours a caramel color with a slightly reddish tinge. It has an almost white head that was 1 finger thick and dissipated quickly. Still it leaves a bit of lacing on the glass, but not much.

The aroma is mainly of caramel and vanilla. However, a bready/biscuit malt scent is also apparent. I was reminded a little of nectar by the smell as well. Everything about it indicated that the beer would likely be sweet and spicy.

As indicated by the smell, the taste is indeed dominated by sweetness and a touch of spice. I'm not sure what the spice is, it's not nutmeg or cinnamon. Maybe ginger? Still, whatever it is the spice is definitely not dominant. There's also a little round bitterness to it, like you'd get from certain cheeses. The aftertaste has two parts, one is bitter and stays in the back of the mouth. The other is the spiciness that stays on the tip of the tongue and roof of the mouth. There was one thing that I didn't like about it, the bitterness seemed a bit out of place in this beer. I don't know if it was the type of bitterness or the fact that it seemed a bit disconnected from the main flavor. Still, it's quite good.

The mouthfeel is highly carbonated, a bit on the light side. There's not really any coating to speak of. It's a little warming going down, which is odd given the alcohol content, which ways in at 6%. My guess is this is from whatever the spice is. The beer is not terribly refreshing, but definitely crisp. It tingles a bit going down the back of the throat.

The drinkability of the beer is fairly high. It's got a nice flavor to it, even though it's a bit subdued. It's definitely unique, and nothing like the other Christmas beers I've had so far. I might not want to drink it all day, but I wouldn't mind a couple.

- Adam