At the time that I record this, it is not at all wintertime. That said, I picked this up is soon as I saw it, and it doesn't look like it is out of date (just being about six months since its birth). Will a spiced ale go well in what is currently heat? I'm inclined to say yes, as the air conditioning in my house is particularly cold today. Let's see how well this goes.
It says it's a dark ale, and I'm not going to argue. When I grabbed the glass I normally use for IPAs, I assumed it would be the best glass to show this particular beverage off. I might've been better off going with the stout glass, but they're really not a whole lot of differences between these two glasses. The beer is definitely dark brown, and the head is light tan, and it leaves lots of lacing on the sides. The aroma is fraught with a complexity of spices; cinnamon, gingerbread, vanilla, clove, and a whole bunch of others are milling about in there. This already seems like it would be very good on a cold winter's night by the fire.
First sip is spiced all to hell and back. Is there a beer there? Their can says that this is rich and malty, and I think I can back them up on the rich, but it doesn't taste very malty. The gingerbread and cinnamon really seem to be taking things over, and I'm just not tasting any beer underneath all this. Maybe if I dissect it.
Tip-in is heavy gingerbread, cinnamon, vanilla, and clove while carbonation ignores the mouth altogether. The middle braces and then plunges into a smooth, rich malt that absolutely delivers on what the can promises. Then, spices rush back to take over for the finish before cinnamon and gingerbread take back the main stage in the trail off.
Bottom Line: Definitely a cold weather beer.
2.5/5
