After bottling the RIS today I had to make some room in the beer closet in the garage. I found some old Winter Spiced Ales in the back and since we brewed an all-grain version of the same recipe last fall, I decided to pour out the 14 bottles we had left. This was the 3rd overall batch we have ever made and it contained brown sugar, honey, sweet orange peel, and a spice mixture made of cinnamon, ginger, clove, and nutmeg. It was bottled on 10/5/2009 and finished at 8% alcohol. We can remember when we tried drinking the beer around Christmas time that the beer was so sweet we couldn't drink it cold. We had to let it warm up a little bit to be able to get it down. This is the oldest beer we have in the house, and the 18 months have done it well. From the picture you can see how clear it is and the mouth-feel is greatly improved since we last had it over a year ago. Aroma: Spices, "christmas," cinnamon, , warm sugar, slight alcohol
Flavor: dry, slightly sweet (much less than before), no longer cloying sweet, some spicey-ness but much less than before. Fairly dry considering the higher FG (1023), medium carbonation; finish lasts well in mouth after swallowing
Overall: this one has really grown up since we first started drinking it. It is very similar to the AG version we brewed last fall, but it is very spice foward still. On a cold dark winter night a pint of this would be good, but the spice-foward flavors make it somewhat difficult to drink all night.
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