Day 11: Brrr Hoppy Red
Winter Warmer (?) | Widmer Brothers Brewing Company, Portland OR
Wow, I was caught up for one whole day. ONE. WHOLE. DAY. But after the celebration that was enjoying the 14 inches of snow that came down on Friday was the hangover that was shoveling on Saturday. Oh, and there was a holiday party on Saturday, and my FIL was serving Drambuie, which is the funnest word in any language, and, where was I going with this?
Anywho, the wifey and I took this and Sunday's offering with us to Chateau de Scar to enjoy while we were playing a game of Capone, where we were cronies of the titular crime boss running speakeasies, and apropos to this list, I was the henchman in charge of the beer operation, and somehow managed to come out on top after spending the entire game convinced I was screwed and I would be murdered by my patrons. Okay, not sure where I am going with this either.
Scar and I split this beer, so I'll let Scar chime in on this one, but here is what I remember of this one. The nose was slightly sweet, but not cloying, I remember picking up notes of brown sugar from the red malts, no doubt. Taste wise, there's an initial bite with resin up front, definitely a west coast influenced beer.
Now, the genre of this beer as listed on Beer Advocate is Winter Warmer, so that's what i went with, but I always found that a rather nebulous term. You could be forgiven for calling this a Red IPA, and if you like IPAs with the body of a brown and a twinge of sweetness, then I think you'll enjoy this one too. Nothing to go crazy about, this beer, but I enjoyed it all the same. Pleasant is the word that sticks in my head. I'm gonna give this a 3.5/5 - good.
Thoughts, Scar?