It seems appropriate that coming at you tonight is your second installment of Winter Warmer Wednesday with the blustery wind and temperature today coupled with the impending first significant snowfall of the season.
. Tonight's WWW selection is another Tavour purchase. I'm not really doing much here for your ability to find something locally, am I?
Out of Portland, Oregon is Stormbreaker Brewing's Winter Coat '18. It's not quite 2018, but winter is coming soon, like it or not. This company has some pretty cool label art that has a lot of popular movie references, so if you have a second to click the link, it's worth a view.
It looks like they've changed this recipe a few times in the past. The above photo is an image of their 2016 version that was not only barrel aged, but brewed with blood oranges and honey malts. I'm sure that warmed things up quite a bit. The 2018 version (the one we're enjoying) is brewed with orange peel, honey malt, dark cherry and wolfberries (AKA goji berries).
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| I absolutely had to look up the wolfberry! You're welcome! |
The pour was a very translucent mahogany one with a decent head at the top. Aromas of roasted/toasted malts are forefront. Chocolate malt takes a backseat to those, faintly detected in the background. The fuggle hops provide some woody undertones while the sterling hops provide some spicy citrus notes to round out the bouquet. The honey malt is ever-present in the flavor here giving it a smooth, yet robust mouthfeel. The orange peel gives it some citrus notes to compliment the aroma. As for the wolfberries, I don't know if I'd recognize them since I don't have any experience with them at all. There is a mild bitterness to this, which may be due to the malts and may be due to the cherries or even orange peel. Other than that, I don't get much cherry, other than a bitter flavor, which is more likely hop-driven compared to fruit-driven here. There is some chocolate bitterness towards the end of the sip to round things out. In addition, there is definitely a nice spicy flavor to this beer that doesn't overpower, yet compliments everything about the libation.
This may be the best winter warmer style brew I've had yet. This 7.5% winter warmer is sure to please and warm things up with a super-slight alcohol burn at the end. Whether I'm growing as an aficionado of the style, or it's just that well executed, I'm not sure. However, I'd go as far to say that I'm super-impressed with this recipe and look forward to having more to come from these guys, if I can locate it. I bet an IPA would be killer!
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