Style: Scottish Ale
ABV: 5.4%

Can’t remember ever trying this beer, and I’ve been drinking Bells for 10 years. I’m not sure how long this has been around, but I finally picked one up. The beer pours a nice deep orange color with a foamy white head. The head went down, but there’s still a thin layer as it sits here.
I smell a faint hint of cinnamon, very faint. Malt, orange and a slight hop fragrance.
Very smooth with medium to high carbonation.
The taste: Again, I taste some malts and some faint spices, with a crisp hop up front. Definitely taste some orange in there.
This is a good beer, but definitely not what I was thinking as far as a Christmas Ale goes. It’s fine though, some of those holiday beers go overboard on the spices. This is a nice session beer, you could take to a holiday party and everyone would enjoy.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-16-2008 21:34:21

Style: English Old Ale
ABV: 8.1 %

The beer pours a really nice deep amber color with a nice one finger creamy colored head. I could smell the creamy malts and hops as I poured this.
I smell hints of creamy chocolate, roasted, toffee right up front. I also get some hop hints in there too.
The mouth feel is crisp yet thick with higher carbonation. The taste is a very malty chocolate, almost tootsie roll flavor with a bit of a hop bitter bite to it, but definitely not a huge one. The after taste leaves a smokey roasted flavor in my mouth.
This beer is really good. Rich, but definitely one I could enjoy a few of. I could probably go on and on about the amazing taste. Mostly I just want to get done typing this so I can sit back and enjoy the rest of this thing. Definitely an amazing beer. This tops out at 8.1%, but the higher alcohol isn’t too upfront. It is definitely a sipping beer, but after you taste it, you’ll see why.. you’ll want to saver the complexity going on here. Ok, enough – of to enjoy the rest of this thing!

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-12-2008 00:24:49

Style: Winter Warmer
ABV: 7.40%

Pours a deep amber brown with a head that quickly fades. Not so dark that you can’t see through, a very nice color. The smell is a bready yeast smelling with hints of orange, pine and cinnamon.
The beer has a smooth lighter body to it with moderately high carbonation. The hops/pine come through on the initial taste with a bready caramel malt taste to it.
Not what I was expecting, more of a hoppy spiced brown ale. The spices are very subtle but overall it’s a well balanced beer. I can see being able to drink a lot of these, it’s definitely light enough to pack these away if given the opportunity. I’m not sure the taste is my thing, but it’s definitely drinkable.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-10-2008 23:46:08