Living in Texas, we never really have a traditional fall season, or a normal winter, with temperatures frequently fluctuating 20-30 degrees in a week. So I always mark the start of fall based on the release of the first Oktoberfest brews, and then I wait patiently for the winter warmers to appear to let me know that “winter” is on it’s way. Regardless of the temperatures, nothing says winter and Christmas like a well-spiced winter warmer.

Whitestone Brewery has been brewing their seasonal winter warmer, Melted Snowman, for a few years. This year head brewer Steven Walker completely re-imagined the recipe, starting with sourcing high quality spices. It turns out there are actually five main varieties of cinnamon, the Cassia variety being the most common. It’s also quite potent and can easily overwhelm other flavors in a beer. So Steven decided to look for a specialty sourced type and settled on the Ceylon variety via Burma Spice located in South Florida, where he also sourced the nutmeg.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqwHz82lBh_/

The malt bill rounds out the flavors featuring German chocolate, Midnight wheat, German caramel malt, oats, Belgian candi syrup and toasted cacao nibs. The result is a beer with all of the elements you look for in a winter warmer, the subtle aromatics of cinnamon and nutmeg with a hint of caramel on the nose, a slightly effervescent full mouthfeel with mild dryness on the finish and a beautiful dark roasted color.

 

Whitestone Brewery | Melted Snowman
ABV: 7.5% | IBU: 20

 

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