The 2-4 Beers of Christmas: Day 4 Vintage Winter Beard

Beer # 167 Vintage Winter Beard

Muskoka Brewery

Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Aged Flavoured Porter 8.0 % ABV Brown Glass Bottle 750 ml.
$13.95 (Canadian) At the LCBO
Twitter: @MuskokaBrewery

Well here is a throwback for this Thursday I am posting about a beer I (sort of) posted about before. Way back in my 13th post I did Muskoka Brewery's Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout. Here it is 4 years later and I am doing it again, but this time the beer was aged at the brewery for one year in the bottle prior to sale. The have also rebranded the beer as "Winter Beard" and this is the "Vintage Brew Edition" from 2013. The bottle says the beer can be further aged upright in a cool location for 2 years, so if after Christmas I still have some money, I may put away 2 bottles and revisit this beer again (If I can keep my hands off of them...)


This beer is loaded with chocolate, I'm surprised they don't call it triple chocolate. It contains cocoa powder, cocoa nibs, and 70% dark chocolate. It also contains locally sourced cranberries (Bala Ontario area I believe).

Onto the weirding of the beard...

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 

Very dark brown in colour with a hint of red in it and a light brown head made up of small bubbles. Aroma is dark chocolate and cranberry with some deep malted grains and a slight sugary hint. There is also a hint of wood and the aroma of whiskey. There are light hints of caramel, vanilla, licorice, and dark rye bread. The beer is very smooth, and ageing has made it very subtle. (looking back on my notes from the earlier tasting to compare, I noticed that the aromas of "cherry cordial" and "chocolate soda" are very toned down. The chocolate is there but the richness shows more, the cranberry is more evident than the ripe red fruit and cherry I got before). This beer has aged very gracefully. The malt and the chocolate have melded well, it is hard to tell where one starts and the other ends. Aeration froths the beer a bit giving it a mousse-like feeling. The aroma switches more to coffee, with a hint of brandy. Alternatively I also get hints of liquor filled fondant candies.
Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Re-Order:  5/6 PASS
Experience:  6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Christmas Spirit 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL


Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed revisiting an old post and comparing notes between the two (very different) versions of this beer. This one I would have to say I enjoyed more, as the beer has achieved a maturity, and subtleties that I felt was lacking in the regular release. I definitely want to see this beer in two years. Oh, One other thing... It really didn't factor too much into the enjoyment of the beer... but I had a HELL OF A TIME trying to get the damn cork out... keep a corkscrew handy if you grab this bottle!



Cheers And Beery Christmas


CJT


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