Beer-a-Day #361 
Based on the satisfying malty ales of blustery Scotland, Brooklyn Winter Ale will have you looking on the bright side of things. Rich Scottish malts bring deep bready flavors to a beer with a full copper color, a round, smooth palate, and brisk hopping that pulls the sweet malts into balance. See – things are looking up already!
Very pretty amber color. Subtle malty aroma. Brooklyn Brewery is generally one of my favorites, but I’m just not feeling it for this one.
Beer-a-Day #331 
The psycho in the pack… K-9 Cruiser is a dark, sweet and malty winter warmer that will captivate any adventurous craft brew drinker. A true Flying Dog original, K-9 Cruiser is the perfect brew to warm you up in those cold winter months.
Golden brown with a finger’s width of head. Malty aroma with a bit of spice. Nice and malty, with a bit of roastiness. It’s good.
Flying Dog K-9 Cruiser Winter Ale
Beer-a-Day #186
What do you know? Another winter beer on clearance.
Snow Goose is a Winter Warmer that has become a Mid-Atlantic tradition. Snow Goose pours a clear, deep, rich mahogany with a creamy, off-white head. The aromas are warm, toasty malts and caramel with just a hint of hops. Finishes clean
and dry.
Medium-dark brown with orange highlights; beige head. I can definitely smell the caramel and a bit of vanilla. Medium body with nice roastiness and more caramel. I rather like that.
Wild Goose Brewery Snow Goose Winter Ale
Beer-a-Day #184
My favorite retailer was having a clearance sale on some out-of-season beers. Well why the heck not?
The new special release is a smooth brown ale, with a touch of raspberry. Rich and toasty with a warming body and light hops, this will be a malty and perfectly fruited beer- very appealing and comforting. Just right for wintertime.
Well, I suppose I could crank up the air conditioning…
Chocolatey brown with a thin head. A bit of molasses in the aroma and some raspberries. A bit of roastiness in the flavor, light body, some more raspberries. Light body. I don’t know that I’d save this just for winter.
Beer-a-Day #12
What sort of mischief are those snowmen up to?
Brown with some red highlights. Light brown head drops to a nice layer of foam. A bit of spice in the aroma. Some pleasant nuttiness and spice in the flavor.
It seldom gets much below freezing near Washington, D.C. When it does, it doesn’t stay that way for long. Over the weekend, though, temperatures struggled to get into the high twenties. Not that the fans at either of the NFL Conference Championship games think I really have anything to complain about. (Go Giants! Woo-hoo!)
It did serve to remind me that it is still winter, though.
So I cracked open my single Black Dog Winter Cheer from Spanish Peaks, a “Hearty Winter Ale”. (This is one of the beers that Ron sent to me.)
Here’s what they say:
Black Dog’s Winter Cheer is a very hearty ale made from five different malts and three hop varieties. It has a deep copper color and its flavor balances the sweet malt with significant hop spiciness. The perfect beer to cheer up a Winter’s evening.
I’d say it’s more a deep brown than copper, but that might just be the fact that it’s night and the room I’m in. An off-white head that settles into half an inch of foam. A good bit of hop aroma. After warming a bit, I can smell some spice. Medium- to full-bodied but not overly sweet. In fact, it’s a bit hoppier than I expected, though not in a bad way.
I’d have this again.
6.3% ABV, 55 IBU
