Winter Warmer - Upland Brewing Company

    Winter Warmer is a Barleywine brewed by Upland Brewing Company which is located in Bloomington, Indiana. We are definitely out of the Winter Warmer season, but this was sitting in the refrigerator and wouldn't stay fresh through the summer and into next winter. I picked up this bomber at the Upland tasting room in Indianapolis, IN.

    The ale pours a gorgeous garnet color with a decent light-khaki head. There are a lot of bubbles visible in the glass, seeming to hint at a high carbonation level. The beer leaves some light lacing on the glass. A warning to future purchasers: there is a good amount of sediment at the bottom of the bottle, so be careful to decant when pouring!

    Winter Warmer smells strong and sweet. There is surprisingly a decent bit of hops scent to the beer for this style.

    Upland's Barleywine is light to medium bodied with a similar level of carbonation. I'm surprised at how thin this beer is as barleywines are usually thicker than this. There is a nice alcohol warmth to the 8.5% ABV ale.

It warms you from the inside out!

    The Barleywine has strong flavors of an aged ale. Sweet caramel and toffee malts make up the majority of the flavor with a bit of an alcohol hit at the end. There is a slight piney hops flavor at the end of the flavor which sticks around as a bitter aftertaste.

    Winter Warmers are one of my favorite beer types. I love how the warmth of the alcohol is featured in a pleasant way in this style. Upland's Barleywine seems as though it is a bit lighter than others I have had. While the body is somewhat disappointing, the warming properties are done very well in this beer. It's not easy to balance alcohol character with sweetness to the point that the beer no longer tastes like jet fuel. Pleasant sweet flavors are the main feature of the beer.

    There is clearly a bit of fine-tuning needed to make this beer a great, but it's well on its way. I would love to have more of this on a cold winter, or even just rainy, day.

Amulets and Ale Rating:

Discuss this review and more on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AmuletsAndAle!