Winter Beers: Final

Wow, the holiday season sure has a way of making you very busy.  I have a backlog of stuff I wanted to talk about, but I've just not really been on top of writing about it.  Sort of feel like I have seen most of what I want to know about beer.

On the plus side I have more to talk about about things other than drinking beer and rating it.  Like making it!  So after a little thought I have decided that I should push to write things specifically about Northwestern beers if I am rating a beer.  There are after all several rating sites and lots of blogs all over the place that cover this in depth.  I think talking about breweries and beers of specifically the Northwest will be more productive (occasionally will talk about special releases from California and maybe Colorado or something similar).

Thought that I would at least finish up the Winter Beers:

in no particular order, I'd say the top 5 winter beers we've had this year are:


Deschutes Jubelale


This beer has a very warming feel to it; has a lot of the malty and carmel flavors similar to what you'd find in a Scotch Ale.  I had it in bottle, on cask, and on tap.  Cask was great, but they were all good.  Nice dark ruby color and a little thicker feeling than I thought it would be.

This beer is so very perfect for what I want in a winter beer
Jubleale

Boundary Bay Cabin Fever


This has a very similar taste and profile to Jubelale, but it is much stronger feeling.  Definitely a little bit of alcohol taste in there, this WILL warm you up.  I prefer the Jubelale, but Sam prefers this one.
Boundary Bay's site

Alaskan Brewing Co. Winter 


I had already discussed this one in an earlier post, but the reason I like this is the Spruce tips and the overall mellow factor this beer has.

Winter Ale

Hopworks Abominable 


Another one I already mentioned; the label on this one is very cool though.  Not to be confused with Fremont Brewery's Abominable, which I actually don't think I have tried.  More on the aggressive side.
Hopworks

Three Skulls Poison 


Just thought I'd throw this is there, it was totally a random event that led us to ordering this.  I think they were out of Arrogant Bastard.  Had it on tap at the Pillagers' Pub in Seattle (Greenwood) on New Years.  It was pretty awesome, very strong in ABV, yet had a nice, not overpowering flavor.
Three Skulls

Ninkasi Sleigh'r


Yeah, okay this is actually number 6, it's an honorable mention I suppose...  but I really liked this one.  Definitely check it out, because it is very different.


List of all the other winter ales we tried:

Laughing Dog Coldnose - like I said, would not recommend
Red Hook Winter Hook - inot bad, but I liked the others more
New Belgium 2 Below - similar to Winter Hook
Elysian Bifröst - while I found it quite good, it's actually more like a winter IPA; so if you want a really hoppy winter beer then for sure grab this
Rogue Mogul Madness - this one is good, but I don't see why they charge so much for it.  Not worth the extra cash in my opinion.