Peabody's Winter Beer Guide Pt. 3

I think I mentioned last time that the spring beers are already in the grocery stores, that is actually good news, because it means the winter beers are on sale as they move 'em out. This week I review 3 that I picked up at Lowe's Foods (first time I'd shopped there, I'll be back often, best beer selection I've ever seen in a pure grocery store, at great prices).

Brooklyn Winter Ale

I mentioned in a previous post that some brewers create their "winter" offerings by adding spices, this one has a very nice "wintery" flavor created with no spices. Malt, malt, malt, malt, no hops evident (they are there, of course, but certainly not in the forefront). If you're having a malt craving, this is the one for you, a good Scottish ale. I'm drinking one as I write this.

Nice feature article on beeradvocate.com:
http://beeradvocate.com/news/stories_read/690

This one is very drinkable, as long as you are not craving hops. Definitely a good one to go along with a hearty stew or something.

Mendocino White Hawk Original IPA
From the review I posted on beeradvocate.com:

Nice dark golden color, not much aroma, what is there is pine-y. First impression is pine-y hops, then malt peeks thru. By the second beer, the malt becomes a little too sweet, which is the only complaint I have with this beer. All in all, as others have noted, not a world-beater, but a very decent IPA. Next time it's on sale, I'll pick up some more.

Nice write-up on Mendocino's web site:
http://www.mendobrew.com/brews/white_hawk.html

Forgot to mention, we are moving out of the "session" beers (remember a "session" beer is for when you are having several) and moving into what I call "sipping" beers, this one is 7% ABV (alcohol by volume).

Cottonwood Frostbite High Gravity

I have mixed feelings on this one, I'm not a big fan of Cottonwood's offerings (actually Cottonwood was bought several years ago by the Carolina Beer brewery, makers of Carolina Blonde). Cottonwood's Low-Down Brown tastes like tap water from rusty pipes (to me, all Brown Ales with exception of Newcastle taste like that), their Endo IPA is terrible, etc. I found this stuff last year, thought I would give it a try. I thought it was some of the best beer I had ever had, comparable to Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (review coming soon) in its excellence.

What I liked so much was this: Huge hoppiness, but then you notice, hmm, equally strong rich maltiness. Like dueling flavors in your mouth. Most impressive. But, like I said, that was last year. This year (at least the 2 sixers I had a month ago, I picked up another one last week) the rich maltiness was replaced by the rusty pipe taste, almost like they just poured some hops into some Low Down Brown.

Bottom line - last year's batch was awesome, this year's, while still good, not awesome. I'll let you know if my opinion changes after this new sixpack.

Closing note: Careful with this one, it's 8.5% alcohol, if you drink 3, you will be tore up.