Wild Goose Snow Goose Ale

[SewerRanger]

Winter is my favorite time of the year for many reasons, the least of which is winter ales. These magical spiced ales truly put me in the Christmas mode. The Snow goose ale is no exception to this. Brewed in Frederick Maryland by Wild Goose brewery, this is one tasty beer. It poured from a slightly chilled bottle with a nice bark brown color – darker then most ales I’ve seen but not as dark as a stout. No head existed after the pour but I wouldn’t expect one from an ale. The beer had a very subtle hop and clove smell to it. You can just make out a bit of chocolate and malt. It was an odd combination of smells, but one that worked for this beer. The first taste was light malt and spice, a bit on the bittersweet side. The beer finished with a strong hops and chocolate taste, nice and bitter. It went down smooth and left a slight bitter hops taste to it. The label called them fuggle hops – which are an old English strain of hops. The brewery prides itself on using traditional English recipes and this one is dead on. Nothing in the beer jumps out at you, this is a subtle beer and I’m fine with that. The only downside to it is the recipe changes each year, so next years brew won’t taste the same. Thankfully I’ve not had a beer from this microbrewery that I haven’t liked and I look forward to next year’s batch. Until then I’ll be buying me a couple more six packs of this one – some to age as the website suggest, and some because I’d like some now.