Wintry beers
You may have noticed the Coors Winterfest Lager clogging the beer aisle recently at Krogers. Look up in the cooler and you will find Sam Adams Winter Lager. These are just a few of the wintry beer selections that are now available in the Charleston area.
What makes a beer a winter beer, you ask. A winter beer is one that is going to taste best when the weather is cold. No, you don’t have to go outside in the freezing cold to drink it. Winter beer is usually dark and strong delivering that extra something to give you that warm and fuzzy feeling. Many rely on alcoholic strength (But alas, we are unable to buy such beer in WV due to our laws). Some brewers use the addition of spices, which is all too common. I find overly spiced winter beers to be cloying and would much prefer the spicy phenolic flavors that can occur naturally from fermentation.
Many of my favorites on a cold evening are year round standards and locally available. For instance, Great Lakes “Edmund Fitzgerald Porter”, a robust porter, or Rogue Shakespeare Stout, an artisan-style stout are beers that feature intense chocolate and roasty flavors that are welcome on a cold winter’s night by the fire. Dark ales like these need to be served near cellar temperature (55-60F). If they are served too cold, their flavor and aroma are diminished. They make great accompaniment to desserts featuring chocolate or caramel.
Larger breweries like Coors and Samuel Adams also offer their interpretations of winter beer. CoorsWinterfest is a wonderful caramel, malty lager that is a far cry from the “Silver Bullet.” Samuel Adams Winter Lager is one of the overly spicy ones referred to earlier, although this winter it seems they have toned it down a bit. (BEER ALERT: It was available on-tap at Griff’s at South Charleston’s Riverwalk, as of this writing.)
If you are going to be traveling out of state, you will likely find bottle shops selling the stronger Barleywine type beers, like Anchor Old Foghorn or Sierra Nevada “Bigfoot” Barleywine. These are very fine examples of beer that use strength and naturally occurring spiciness to give you that warming feeling.
– By Rich Ireland
