The First Day of Spring. The Most Spectacular Bird Feeder in the World thinks that’s pretty funny.
Spring is sprung, but no grass is showing. Spring my ass, it’s still snowing.*
The first day of Spring and it looks like we are living in a snow globe. No dockside dalliances or boathouse brews in the foreseeable future, the last vestiges of winter are hard pressed to take their leave.
So if you can’t beat them, join them. How about a beer of the month club Winter Ale from Kensington. They suggest that “if you aren’t a fan of shoveling the driveway” that you have a beer instead and pay some snot nosed punk teenager your hard-earned retirement money to clear the lane. Although I may appear a bit ambivalent to the idea, this is actually sound health advice. I have heard that in our neck of the woods the two primary causes of heart attacks in cranky old men are shoveling snow, and sex with the missus. When it comes to the former I am willing to pay someone to shovel snow, but when it comes to the latter I am a do it yourself kind of guy.
It seems a winter ale consists of whatever you have on the shelf, plus ale. They have not been a COM favourite that’s for sure. There was a Granville vanilla fest(erring), or Après Ski (in a cast). JT wasn’t too stoked about Stoked Winter Ale either. But an open mind is a prerequisite for beer reviewing. “Respect the genre” I always say. This winter ale is a brown with orange peel, nutmeg and cloves. Hmmm. Doesn’t sound like my go to brew. I have a feeling this won’t be appealing.**
This brew pours East bound and brown, and we are loaded up and truckin’.*** A brown ale aroma with a touch of cinnamon or clove, spiced suds of the season. And the taste is a classic brown, nutty malt with a touch too much of the season seasoning this brew. Clove and nutmeg be damned. Maybe I will acclimatize? The brown comes out at times, a nice nut malt flavour to it, but so do the cloves. Not as bad as some winter ales, but it does take some getting used to.
At times a downtown brown, at other times a spice rack. A good winter ale if you are into that type of thing, but I am looking forward to the real Spring.
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