Brooklyn Monster Ale

      This will be the fiftieth Winter Beer and I'll finally be done.  This year.  Next year I'll try and divide the Winter Beers into some sub sets so it will all make more sense.  This is one off the other seasonals from Brooklyn, Monster.  It pours out copper with an herb, caramel and fruit.  There's quite a bit of herbal hop here, but also a lot of alcohol, body and dried fruit that more than balances this out.  This is a classic Barleywine, nice flavors good pop, yummy alcohol.  It's good.

Jenlain Noel

      This is a French Christmas Beer so I'm sure it will surrender it's flavor to me.  And, of course the Germans.  It comes in a nice beautiful big bottle with a fancy cork.  Looks like it would make a nice gift if it tastes any good.  Jenlain pours out copper with that skunky hop, caramel, mocha and a touch of spice.  There is quite a hop presence, along with nice caramels and a touch of vague spice.  It's also quite fizzy, but with very little head. This is a straight up good beer in the Farm House Ale mode.  I'm getting a bit of mocha on the finish.  It's good, but not special, I wouldn't pay a lot for it.

Scuttlebutt 10 Below Ale

      Scuttlebutt is a new Brewery for me, and I like their nice big bottles.  This one has a fitting seasonal polar bear on it.  10 Below pours out a cloudy dark brown and has a huge mocha, citrus and caramel nose.  It's surprisingly crisp with big flavors of mocha, coffee, caramel and a bit of spice.  10 Below has few flaws, a great mix of flavors with some hop pop and a nice overall balance.  This is really good Winter Beer, I heartily recommend it.Look forward to their other offerings.

Lancaster Winter Warmer

      Again with the Winter Beers.  It's amazing how I tirelessly plow through beer after beer just to bring knowledge to the people.  I should be sainted.  Anyway, Lancaster's Winter offering pours out a dark brown with nice coffee, mocha and caramel.  Wow, this stuff has very rich mocha and coffee flavors that really linger on the finish.  The malts here are massive leaving the hops much in the background.  You do get bitterness from the coffee that makes up for it.  This is a big flavored thick beer, exactly what I like in the Winter.  I really like this and would seek this out if it's your style, a real winner.

St. George Winter Scotch Ale

      I love me some Scotch Ale.  This is a seasonal from the VA based St. George Brewery.  It pours out a dark orange amber and has a weak mocha nose.  The flavor, however has a lot going on.  There's a weighty dried fruit Flavor as well as mocha, burnt caramel and vanilla.  This is a strange mix of tastes that works for me, but others could find this pretty odd.  I think I'll try this again if it comes out next year, but I'm not telling you to run out and get it.  Interesting though.

Noche Buena

      I ended up finding a few more Winter Beers that I really wanted to try.  So Iv'e decided to go back to the topic briefly.  And one of the reasons is Noche Buena, a Mexican Winter beer from the people who make Dos Equis.  I like Dos Equis, it's a great warm weather beer, and I really want to see what they do for a Winter Beer.  Noche pours out a copper to light brown and has a strong caramel and citrus nose.  Strangely, this starts out very bland, then it blossoms.  First, the crisp citrus hop comes out, then you get lovely caramel and sweet mocha.  The tingly hop continues through the finish as the flavors linger.  This is a really good beer, although it still strikes me as more of a warm weather beer.  I guess that's understandable, considering it's origin.  Very nice, I would have this any time, and will seek it out again next year.

Mother Earth Weeping Willow Witt

      Not a huge fan of witt beers, but I like Mother Earth out of NC.  Let's see, it pours out a very pale yellow with a caramel and white spice nose.  There's nice hop crispness and the caramel and coriander.  This is fine for what it is and I'm sure many people might enjoy this during warm weather.  Me, I'll never buy one ever again.  As always their bottles are great.