Winter Seasonal Beer Review

So, the leaves have fallen, your way-too-tight Superman Halloween costume is back in the attic for another year, and the only reminder of the first wave of the holiday season is that extra two inches around your waste from your overindulgence in Thanksgiving pies with heavy whipped cream. What do you do now that all of the pumpkin beers you love can no longer be found on the shelves of your local packie? Well, my friend, it is time for you to zip up that parka and head out to find yourself a winter brew that will keep you happy to be indoors for the next few months. After all, dealing with your dysfunctional family during the holiday season is so much easier with a belly full of good beer in you.

Unlike picking your favorite pumpkin beer or Oktoberfest, selecting your winter seasonal brew can be a much greater challenge due to the wide variety of seasonal selections during this time of year. If you aren’t completely sure what kind of beer you prefer, going through a variety of winter seasonals may help you discover the type of beer drinker you really are. Winter gives us a greater quantity and variety of beers than any other season, so let’s take advantage of this time to embark on a voyage of self discovery. It will be the tastiest educational journey you’ve ever had.

Harpoon Winter Warmer 

This beer is loaded with cinnamon and nutmeg, with cinnamon dominating the taste, and nutmeg taking over the finish. It is a beautiful amber color with a well calibrated carbonation level. This is a delicious full bodied beer. I would expect nothing less from a beer brewed in Boston and Vermont!

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

This brass colored IPA has a nice hoppy nose. Brewing an IPA as a winter seasonal beer is very unusual. Why do the good people of Sierra Nevada do it? Cuz they’re awesome. This is a very well balanced IPA with much more malt character than their year-round Torpedo IPA. This is a jewel in the winter seasonal beer crown. Load up on it while you can!

Anchor Brewing Company Christmas Ale

So very, very dark with a creamy head, this year’s version of Anchor’s Christmas Ale has notes of plum, anise, blackberry, and jam. It is surprisingly fruity for a dark beer. Tastes of sugarplums will dance in your mouth. Christmas Ale is so different than anything else – it is almost a non-beer beer. The heaviness of this beer may prevent you from having more than two in one session, but it will be such a delicious two beer session!

Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale

This beer comes in a dark bottle, but it is not a dark beer – it is actually a nice bronze. This is a full-bodied, well carbonated beer with a fine balance of malts and hops. While it is a full-bodied beer, the taste is not overwhelming. It is quite subtle. It is a bit toasty, with a touch of roasted nuts. A nice, clean finish. This is a good beer – not just a good seasonal beer.

Huyghe Brewery Delirium Noel

Without question, this beer comes in the coolest bottle of any Christmas beer. It is made of white porcelain, which protects the beer residing inside, and the label has a skiing pink elephant wearing a Santa hat, and Santa himself is flying above in a sleigh being pulled by a team of pink elephants. As for the beer inside this masterpiece, it is exceptional. At 10% ABV, it is a strong Belgian ale – so strong, in fact, the alcohol resonates at the top of the mouth. There are some citrus and ginger notes. It is a beautiful amber color. There is virtually no head once it settles, and no apparent bubbling takes place. If you’re looking for something a little different to bring to a Christmas party, this would be a great choice.

Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale

This beer has a beautiful floral hoppy aroma. It is darker than you would expect for a hoppy beer, which is due to the use of two types of malts in the brewing process. The malts emerge as the beer warms, and they serve to balance the hoppy character of the beer. Southern Tier seems to be overlooked on the national craft beer landscape. While a brewery like Dogfishhead gets plenty of notoriety for the unusual styles of beer they make, Southern Tier’s seasonals are different than anything else out there, and they are not getting the praise they deserve. Moreover, I will take a Pumpking over a Punkin any day of the week! Cheers to Southern Tier!

Samuel Adams Winter Lager

This caramel colored lager is a hearty spiced beer that is easy to drink. It has cinnamon notes with a touch of orange. As much as beer drinkers enjoy finding a great beer outside of the mainstream, the Sam Adams Winter Lager is the standard by which all other winter beers are judged. The brewers at Sam Adams have chiseled and shaped this beer into one of the best winter seasonals available, so don’t fight it – drink it!!!

Boulder Beer Company Never Summer Ale

You can tell this is a heavy beer right out of the bottle. It is a deep red ale, heavily hopped and heavily malted. It is so very well balanced. It is as if they found the right formula for a great beer, then multiplied it by a thousand. If a little is good, then more must be wicked good! This beer is perfectly carbonated with a continuous bubbling from the bottom and a head that clings to the glass. It has a very nice finish that goes down smooth. Just a wee bit toasty. A joy to drink!

Lost Coast Brewery Winterbraun Ale

This beer has a deep brown color with a vanilla colored head sitting on top like frosting. A beautiful gingerbread aroma with caramel notes. Winterbraun is brewed with chocolate and caramel malts, but any chocolate flavor is virtually undetectable. The malty character of the beer is tamed by its brown ale base. Overall, this is a very tasty beer.

Weyerbacher Winter Ale

This is a deep, dark brown beer with a light, thin head. The nose is smoky and toasty. The beer has coffee notes with a bit of chocolate and a nice malt finish. There is a very good level of malts in this beer giving it a slight sweetness. This American beer with the German sounding name could never be brewed in Germany due to the Purity Law, but that is to the detriment of the German people as this is a great winter seasonal beer!

Saranac Season’s Best Nut Brown Lager

This dark amber beer has a creamy head that sticks to the glass as you drink it, leaving a frothy trail of where the delicious lager once resided. The nut flavor is fairly moderate, and there is a slightly hoppy finish. The body of this beer is just a bit heavier than normal, which makes it fairly easy to drink. As a result, this beer serves well as a heartier selection for the colder months, but it is not overwhelming or filling, so you can enjoy several in one sitting. This isn’t just a one-and-done winter seasonal.

Flying Fish Brewing Company Grand Cru Winter Reserve

Most of the winter seasonals are dark beers, but this bottle conditioned Belgian style ale has a pale color. This is a very pleasant version of a Belgian ale. There are no edges to this beer – it is well rounded and easy to drink. It lacks that sharpness many of the true Belgian beers possess. As a result, you can drink more of it! The beer continues to improve as it warms. This beer is brewed in the hometown of my wife’s family, so it must be good!

Avery Old Jubilation Ale

A malt-lover’s delight! The aroma and flavor of this beer is loaded with layers upon layers of malts. This reddish-brown ale has notes of mocha, toffee, and some hazelnut. At 8.3% ABV, this beer is sweet and filling. A nice evening beer on a cold winter’s night.

Great Divide Brewing Company Hibernation Ale

This reddish-brown colored English Ale smells like baked brown bread. It has a high malt content, and a high alcohol content at 8.7%. Notes of molasses. This beer is typically held in high regard, but you have to enjoy the dry-hopped English Ale style in order to enjoy this beer. If you enjoy hops, like me, you may conclude that this beer is very good for its style, like a Shih-tzu is good for the style of a toy dog, but you prefer a Labrador.

Magic Hat Howl Black as Night Winter Lager

“Black as night” is an accurate description! This is about as dark as a lager can get. Howl has a complex aroma which is loaded with spices and malts. The beer itself tastes like unsweetened chocolate with some notes of espresso. It leaves your throat a bit dry afterwards. It is a very heavy beer – like drinking a meal. However, the alcohol level is under 5%, so you are not well rewarded for consuming all of those calories!

Corsendonk Christmas Ale

This dark Belgian ale is rust colored with a shallow head. It comes in a 750ml corked bottle and is 8.5% ABV. The beer possesses caramel and toffee notes with some orange zest. The carbonation level is high on the fizz factor. A little tart.

Shipyard Prelude Special Ale

This beer has a Grade A maple syrup look to it coming out of the bottle. There is a pine quality to the scent. The beer tastes toasty and woody, but has a eucalyptus character on the finish. The malts become more apparent as the beer warms. Shipyard hit a grand slam with its Pumpkinhead, but this is more of a ground rule double.

Heavy Seas Winter Storm Category 5 Ale

This imperial ESB has a nice amber color. The combination of malts and hops results in a good flavor which reaches all areas of the mouth. A good flavor….but not great. It just seems to be missing something. The generous use of both malts and hops resulted in a beer which lacks direction and character. This is a very filling beer, so it may be a selection you would include in a mixed 6-pack, but probably not something you would purchase on its own.

Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale

This amber beer has a thin head and a caramel nose. While Belgian sugar is used in the brewing process, the beer itself has no resemblance to a traditional Belgian ale. It is medium-bodied with a high carbonation level, toffee notes, and a sharp finish. Still waiting for Blue Moon to produce a seasonal beer of any significance.

Smuttynose Winter Ale

This beer has a deep brown color with virtually no head. It is heavily malted with a dry finish. This is a slightly better product than their pumpkin ale, but considering how bad the pumpkin ale was, that’s not saying much.

Leinenkugel’s Fireside Nut Brown

The nose on this beer is ultra toasty and nutty, which serves to lure you in like an unsuspecting mouse. Then you taste the beer, and the trap is sprung, leaving you wounded and miserable. The nut flavoring is overwhelming, and becomes sickening after a while. It tastes artificial. This is the kind of winter seasonal beer Kool-Aid would make. The Grinch drinks this beer....which explains why he hates Christmas.

Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve

This is a double-hopped red ale with a wonderful aroma. Everything about this beer is wonderful….other than the absolutely bizarre finish. Once swallowed, there is an overpowering menthol aftertaste which leaves you searching for a chaser of anything just to get that flavor out of your mouth. Santa brings this beer to the people on the naughty list.






Depending where you live, you may find many other winter seasonal beers which do not appear on this list. Give them a try, then let me know your thoughts. May your heart and spirit be warmed throughout the winter season with a delicious seasonal brew!

Pumpkin Beer Review 2010

For all of its fun and frivolity, the seasonal beers of summer are notoriously un-fun. Perhaps the activities of the season itself are so much fun that the beermakers of the world have concluded that really good beer is not necessary to enhance the beerdrinker’s experience. I mean, if you’re out running around on the beach and splashing in the ocean, are you really paying much attention to that citrus flavored beer that you have half-buried in the sand sitting next to your unattended beach chair? Are you even going to notice that your beer is heating up to lava-like temperatures in between service points of your volleyball game? No. You’re not. When there are tanned women in yellow bikinis all around you, you’re paying as much attention to that beer as you are to that mole on your lower back that your mother swears keeps getting bigger. If your beer were swapped out for a Zima without your knowledge, you would guzzle it down and not even know the difference.


Ah, but then Autumn arrives. Suddenly, the bikinis are gone and the tanned girls are wearing sweatshirts with names of colleges they couldn’t get into. You’re spending more time indoors. You’re getting reacquainted with your couch. My Lord, football has returned to your flatscreen! Suddenly, there are far fewer distractions, and now you begin to actually pay attention to your beer. Knowing this, the beermakers of the world unleash a fury of autumn seasonal beers in an effort to respond to your reestablished interest in good beer. Autumn is, without question, the greatest season of the year for beerdrinkers. Breweries you have never even heard of are suddenly appearing on the liquor store shelves with Oktoberfest, marzens, and harvest ales. As much as you want to cling to that lemony beer and the good times associated with it, you know in your heart that it is time to get off of the waverunner and transition your taste buds to a new type of fruit – pumpkin!


So, how do you decide which of those beers with the jack-o-lantern staring back at you from the label to buy? Well, here’s something to help you with this monumental decision so you can get your beer and get back to your couch before kickoff:


Non-Imperial Pumpkin Ales

Shipyard Brewing Company Pumpkinhead Ale  

A golden wheat beer teeming with powerful and pleasant scents of pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Not much of a head to this beer, which is just a little ironic since the name of the beer contains the word “head.” While the head may disappear quickly upon settling, the delicious pumpkin flavor stays with this beer from start to finish. More than any other beer in this category, this beer has dominant pumpkin flavor. If you had never had a pumpkin beer before, this beer is what you would expect a pumpkin beer to taste like. Like a liquid pumpkin pie…if pumpkin pie could get you intoxicated.

Optimal enjoyment: Due to this being a wheat beer, it has a lighter body, making it easier to drink than its peers. As a result, this is a beer that you can enjoy all day long with a big old smile on your pumpkinhead. If you are going to drink beer during the months of September, October, and November, then you might as well be drinking this one.

Saranac Pumpkin Ale        

This beer has a nice amber color, like a deep rust, with a good, frothy head. The nose is well balanced with pumpkin and spices, including cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, and vanilla. Consistent with the nose, the taste of this beer is very well balanced, as the spices complement the pumpkin base perfectly. It is full bodied, and the pumpkin notes steadily increase as it warms. This is a good beer – not just a good “pumpkin” beer.

Optimal enjoyment: All day. Every day. The heft of this beer may be the only factor that may slow you down….but that shouldn’t prevent you from at least trying to fit more in you.

Michelob Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale

This beer looks like Autumn in a glass – a lovely burnt orange color, like a fallen leaf. The aromas of pumpkin and spice are very well balanced, and the head is nice and even. The level of pumpkin flavor this beer possesses is at a very modest level. No pumpkin overload here. Nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and clove are used with delicacy and intelligence to enhance the pumpkin quality of the beer. A very clean finish. Medium bodied with a moderate carbonation for easy drinking.

Optimal enjoyment: This beer is ideal for the person who would otherwise never consider drinking a beer flavored with pumpkin. Your grandfather who has never had anything other than Budweiser and thinks pumpkin beers are for female lumberjacks would actually enjoy this beer. The moderate levels of pumpkin and spice flavors combined with a moderate level of carbonation results in a beer that can be enjoyed all day.

Brooklyn Brewery Post Road Pumpkin Ale

The deep copper color of this beer reflects its full body. The spice notes on the nose outweigh the pumpkin, which is virtually undetectable. Consistent with the scent, the taste of the beer is dominated by nutmeg and clove, and the pumpkin remains just a wallflower. The finish of this beer is all nutmeg, which sits on the back of the tongue defiantly like a kid on a swing who refuses to get off. As the beer warms in the glass, the pumpkin decides it wants to dance and pumpkin notes become more evident, which improves the overall balance and taste of the beer.

Optimal enjoyment: Take this beer out of the fridge, pour it in a glass, go to the grocery store to pick up some snacks, and it will be ready to drink upon your return. When you finish it, you will probably be heading back to the fridge for something else to drink. Hopefully, you picked something better up while you were at the store.

Buffalo Bill’s Brewery America’s Original Pumpkin Ale

This beer looks, smells, and drinks like an American wheat beer. The coloring is more golden than orange, and it has a cloudy, unfiltered look to it. The head on the beer is very thin to start, and is completely gone by the time the glass is halfway finished. While the nose has a wheaty, fruity feel to it, it also possesses a sour property which is somewhat unappealing. This may be a by-product of using roasted pumpkins. When drinking the beer, the primary experience is the sharp effervescence of the beer, rather than any taste of pumpkin, cinnamon, clove, or nutmeg. These flavors only become apparent once the beer has been swallowed, sort of like flavor residue. When the beer is halfway gone and the head has vanished, the pumpkin flavor begins to blossom. Too bad you only have half a beer left to enjoy.

Optimal enjoyment: This beer is a real challenge to experience optimal enjoyment as it needs to warm up in order for the pumpkin flavor to blossom, but due to the light-to-medium body of the beer, it lacks the strength to be enjoyed at warmer temperatures. So, for optimal enjoyment, let it sit for 20 minutes, then chug it.

Blue Moon Brewing Company Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale

Despite its copper color, this beer has the scent and taste of a traditional amber ale. In fact, the pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, and allspice flavors are so slight, it is challenging to detect them at all. The heart of this beer is its amber nature, and any pumpkin-related qualities appear to be an afterthought. This is an amber ale, and you will not feel like you are drinking an Autumn seasonal.

Optimal enjoyment: If you like amber ales, then you will probably enjoy this beer. However, if you are searching for a good pumpkin ale, your search continues…

Southampton Publick House Pumpkin Ale

There is a cloudy, almost shady tone to the look of this beer. It has a strong spice nose, dominated by vanilla extract. Consistent with other offerings from Southampton, this beer is heavy on the malts. This beer gives you a lot of malts and a lot of vanilla – what it does not give you is a lot of pumpkin. The use of vanilla extract is a fairly risky choice, as this flavor has the ability to wipe out all other flavors if not used with great care and restraint. Rather than serve to enhance the flavor of pumpkin in the same way as cinnamon and nutmeg, vanilla is from a different taste paradigm, and it may be the very thing that serves to diminish an otherwise excellent beer.

Optimal enjoyment: If this flavor suits your palate, then enjoy! However, the heaviness of this beer will prevent you from enjoying too many in one session.



Imperial Pumpkin Ales

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale

This beer has a deep, amber color and a good, frothy head. The pumpkin aroma is wonderful, and it is accented by tones of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and cloves. This is a full-bodied beer. Thick and creamy with a hearty pumpkin flavor. At 8% A.B.V., a bit of alcohol can be detected on the roof of the mouth. Everything about this beer is BIG…and wonderful.

Optimal enjoyment: Because this is such a big beer, you probably won’t be able to fit too many of them, or anything else, in your belly….unless you have a really big belly. In that case, pound away. Otherwise, plan on enjoying one or two of these on a chilly Autumn night.



Southern Tier Brewing Company Pumpking Imperial Pumpkin Ale

This copper colored beauty smells like pumpkin bread baking in the oven. Hands down the best fragrance of any beer in this category. The taste is very sweet, which results from the use of pureed pumpkin and caramel malts. This beer is stunning. There is nothing else quite like it. This is like a concept car that actually ended up getting put into production – it is the Dodge Viper of pumpkin beers. The high level of sweetness of this beer can be somewhat overwhelming by the time you reach the bottom of the glass.

Optimal enjoyment: At 9% A.B.V. and available only in 22 ounce bottles, one is all you’ll need!

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

For some reason, beerlovers seem to go nuts for anything Dogfish Head puts out in the market. Whatever the reason is, it continues to escape me, and the Punkin Ale only deepens this mystery. This beer has a rusty orange color to it, and the nose is overwhelmed with malts….as is the flavor. Where is the pumpkin, you ask? Well, it is “Punkin” Ale, not “Pumpkin” Ale, so they apparently did not feel that it would be false advertising if they made a beer that tastes nothing like pumpkin. The label at the top of the beer reads "punk," and Dogfish Head has "punked" us by giving us a pumpkin beer without any pumpkin flavor. Dogfish Head does not make bad beers. They just don’t make beers that taste good.

Optimal enjoyment: For optimal enjoyment, leave this one on the shelf and spend your hard earned money on a better selection.

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