Brooklyn Brewery - Winter Ale

Today I'm drinking a Winter Ale from Brooklyn Brewery in Utica, NY.  This is a seasonal Scottish Ale from Brooklyn with 6.1% alcohol and a hefty grain bill, straight-lined with Willamette hops.  I am not a fan of this style - Scottish Ales tend to make me cringe with their intense peaty, smoky malt flavors.  I also had a bad experience with a "heather-hopped" Scottish ale last year that left me with a negative association for all ales Scottish.  Kind of like that one liquor that you drank too much of in college, and just the smell of it now makes you gag....(mine was Captain Morgan).  Hopefully this Brooklyn brew can help break these negative psychological chains.

The beer is a dark amber color, clear, with a fluffy 2 inches of egg-white foam.  Not a whole lot of lacing left behind as it recedes.  The aroma is malt-forward with biscuits and bread dough, combined with a tart, grassy, herbal undertone.  The taste starts off with a nutty, bready malt characteristic.  Some earthy, herbal bitterness comes in almost immediately after that and takes this beer into a strange, farmhouse-ish realm.  Some spiciness comes in towards the end and dries things up a bit.  A hint of raisin also makes itself known, popping in and out randomly.   The texture is medium-bodied, with a higher-than-normal amount of carbonation keeping things bubbly.

Overall Rating:  Winter Ale is a mediocre beer from Brooklyn Brewery.  Certainly very drinkable, smooth, and some nice characteristics of the Scottish Ale style that I actually enjoyed.  But there was an underlying, earthy, almost dirty flavor that I had a hard time accepting.  Not great, but certainly a step in the right direction for me in terms of the style.  B-