#2 Brooklyn Winter Ale - Brooklyn Brewery

Today's brew is a seasonal from the folks over at the Brooklyn Brewery - the Brooklyn Winter Ale.

This one is a beautiful copper color (I need to work on my photography a bit - its hard to tell from my picture) with a short-lived, off-white head.

There is not much going in the way of the nose. I pick up the malt and a slightly earthy component, almost like a compost mulch smell. There is a slight mustiness to it, but not in a bad way at all. I pick up a little caramel and toffee at the end. One thing I have noticed in really smelling my beer that differs from smelling wine is just how tight he nose is at first. I definitely need to let the beer warm up a bit before I can pick up anything. I also have noticed with this one that I need to take about 5-10 second breaks before sniffs which I don't tend to need with wine. But anyways, I have been taking some whiffs in now for almost 10 minutes and it is opening up more.

On the palate it has a very light mouthfeel with little carbonation. The flavors are definitely very malty with a slight sweet tinge. Based on what the Brooklyn Brewery website says about this beer, there are some American roasted malts and that is the predominate flavor that comes across. There is an ever so slight bitterness on the mid palate and some caramel, but not much else.

When I think of winter beers I really associate darker, heavier styles with lots of spice. This one is a little dark, but not very heavy at all and is mostly sweet malt in taste. It is only 6% ABV and somewhat reminds me of a American bock than anything else. Not a bad brew, but nothing that stands way out either. 82 out of 100.