We’ve been eye-balling this article for over a month now on the main page at BeerAdvocate, but never gave it a read. We try to keep up with all our beers, but admittedly, this one got by us. Brooklyn beers are like an old friend you’ve become so accustomed to that you don’t give them as much attention as you used to. 

Brooklyn’s winter seasonal isn’t its spicy English ale of Christmas Past. Brooklyn’s new, reformulated Winter Ale (note: not Christmas Ale) is now a dark, Scottish ale:

“Brewmaster Garrett Oliver explains, ‘There are no spices at all. Good British floor malts and hops, along with our yeast strain, account for all the flavors. It has a Scottish-style cooler fermentation, which pushes malt to the forefront rather than fruitiness.’ It was brewed with Scottish floor-malted Maris Otter, English crystal malts, Belgian aromatic malts, American roasted malts, American oats and hopped with Willamette.”

The irony is, we’ve had a significant amount of requests lately to add more Scotch ales and Scottish ales to our line-up. (We are working on it, but no, there’s no McEwans.)

Until then, maybe give Brooklyn Winter Ale a try. Sure, the brand novelty might have worn off, but there’s no doubt that Oliver & Co. continue to innovate. And, apparently, sneak things in right under our nose.

Source: BeerAdvocate.com / Features