Boulder Beer Co Never Summer Ale

Winter ales, must be coming to that season of warm, hearty brews.  I bought this two round out my other buys of the last winter seasonal beers.

Look/Pour/Smell - Hops galore, and a beautiful amber brown/red.  Sticky, easy, fluffy head.  The hops have a fruity smell, maybe lemon and orange.

Taste - The hops fade a bit to the silky malt.  The hops are upfront, the bouncer and the malt is the slick d.j. running the party.  It's really a two man show.  It does impress in the look category.

Rating - 6
There are other winter's that will impress more than this one.  This is a middle of the pack.

Shiner Hefeweizen

I must have been on a shiner kick, but I can't pass up a hefe.

Look/Pour/Smell - Amber-wood orange, awesome orange and citrus, light warm sweet malty smell.  Almost explosive pour, but not too hard to control

Taste - This one is more than I expected.  I can't say I expect so much from American Hefe's, but now I'm impressed.  It's malt is creamy like a cream stout, but light like your normal hefe.  Slight orange, more spice are there, but they play pawn to the awesome malt and light hops.

Rating - 9
Again, I'm partial to hefes, but here we are.  This beer will fit in with even the best rated hefes from anywhere in the world.

Shiner Holiday Cheer Dunkelweizen

I'm always interested in the seasonal offerings from great craft brewers, and a Dunkel brewed with peaches and pecans seems completely unique.

Smell/Look/Pour - Light pour with an easy, manageable head.  Warm malt, slight peach in the smell.  Awesome woody red look.

Taste - Wow, holy peaches.  Not expected especially from the smell, while the pecans are sitting in the background.  The warm malt is delicious, like a sweet bread.  The hops are great, the minor note in a big band.

Rating -7
I've had some really amazing dunkels, and so this one is up there in the uniqueness scale.  It's amazing in it's own way.  Take this to the bank and have fun.  Easy drinking dunkel.

Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel

Old world dunkel from Germany, and the year on the bottle is 1030.  It is also very proud of it's 2008 World Beer Cup.

Look/Pour/Smell - Smells of the German Beer Law, but warmer like an abbey.  Red brown look, with a light head.

Taste - the hoppiness of German beers is the sheet, while the warmth of malt is the comforter.  It is the balance that's delightful, not any one flavor.  I'd say the one flavor that is there is an apple, like warm apple pie.

Rating - 8
This unfortunately straddles the fence, but is worthy of a great grade.

Harviestoun Ola Dubh

This one looked special.  Aged in whiskey barrels from their 12 year whiskeys.  I wanted the darkest one they had and this looked good.

Look/Pour/Smell - Deep, charcoal, coffee, light chocolate.  Super dark.

Taste - How espresso is to coffee.  This is dark and deep, light chocolate, lots of coffee.  This would go good w/ a cigar.

Rating - 10

It's the deepest, darkest beer I've ever had.

Rogue Chocolate Stout

This is what I needed to finish my weekend.  After attending Oktoberfest I wanted something substantial.

Smell/Look/Pour - Great brown head that stays.   Smells of coffee and chocolate, so the chocolate is nicely balanced.  Dark, all you have to say about it.

Taste - The chocolate is more a dark chocolate than some others I've had.  Coffee flavor is mellow, behind the delicious, sophisticated chocolate.  It's hard to overstate the awesome chocolate taste.

Rating - 9
It's hard to find a balanced stout.  There's so many things that can go wrong.  This one won't disappoint, and I think this would even be a good starter stout.