2008 Cold Mountain Winter Ale

As much as I hate to admit it, I wasn't a big fan of this beer. I had high hopes based on my recollection of the Cold Mountain Winter Ale I 'd had a few years ago, probably 2002 or 2003 The last time I'd had this beer it came in a cobalt clue 22oz potbelly style bottle with a ceramic recloseble cap similar those found on a Grolsh bottle.

Produced seasonally and in limited supply by the Highland Brewing Co. of Asheville ,NC the recipe for Cold Mountain changes yearly. This years recipe was medium reddish-copper in tone with a medium moving towards full body. Although the label describes the ale as being lightly hopped I found the hoppiness to be the overwhelming focus its flavor. Also described as having "hints of spice" I didn't find much in the way of holiday spice except maybe for the faint bitterness of nutmeg.

Trying to give this beer the best chance I could I drank it in 3 differant degrees of coldness. As soon as I removed it from the fridge I poured a pint and drank about a third of it. This being the coldest, it tasted of cold coffee with hints of caramel and a hoppy bitterness. As I let the beer warm up a tad the hops became much more pronounced and I found myself fighting to avoid the "bitter-beer face".
After having drank about three-fourths of my pint I poured the remainder of my 22oz into my glass and allowed myself 15 or 20 minutes to allow the beer to warm up even furthur to just below room temperature which in my house is around 62 degrees. As the ale got warmer, the sweetness of the caramel as well as a slight bitter orange/coriander note that offset the nutmeg became apparent. This made the last 3 or 4 swallows probably the most enjoyable part of the beer. It was unfortunate that the entire beer wasn't as pleasant.

I originally had bought 3 22oz'ers before the holiday. I opened one for my friend Marc on christmas eve. He enjoyed the beer (or maybe he was already to the point where any beer tastes good?) but I was drinking corn liquer and lemonade and didn't taste it that evening. I drank the 2nd bottle this evening, and Marc will probably get the 3rd one to drink tommorow night when we watch the Sooners stomp the pulp outta Florida tommorrow night.