Ran across last year's vintage of Winter Welcome, and couldn't resist seeing how it held up. It went well with my winter warmer binge anyway, and was an excuse to buy another Sam Smith beer. I have to go through the others, and look for more Stingo...
Pours almost a straight amber that's lighter than many warmers. Great light tan head that's as big as you want it to be, which gets pillowy before slowly receding. Fairly strong carbonation.
Despite not truly being a beer to be cellared, it seems to have held up well. Good carbonation is a good first sign, and a fairly floral smell is another. Very slightly bitter and malty, with a good balance. No obvious spicy smells though.
I like this beer, but it's more like a light pale than a warmer. That may be the first sign of how it's mellowed over the year. It's mildly bitter with a good malt backbone, neither or which is truly significant in flavor. But it's solid, and like most every Sam Smith beer is very good. It just has no winter warmer spice to it, is all, but like I said that's as likely to be because of the extra year it spent in the bottle as anything else.
Guess I'll have to go out and get this year's to see.
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