Treat Yourself to a Deliciously Spiced Winter Warmer This Holiday Season

I interrupt your holiday festivities, which likely include enjoying some excellent beers, to feature yet another great seasonal beer worth trying. Imagine bottling the essence of gingerbread cookies or other spiced desserts and pouring this elyxir into a glass. That sums up what you'll experience when drinking 4 Elf Winter Warmer Ale from Dark Horse Brewing Company. This beer, and its style, go far beyond this simple comparison, and I'll break it down for you here.

4 Elf is, of course, a winter seasonal from Dark Horse, one of several from this increasingly popular craft brewery in Marshall, Michigan. Dark Horse, a family owned brewery founded in 1997, has a broad lineup of year-round and less frequent offerings, a good portion of which lean in the malt-centric direction. As a winter warmer, 4 Elf is firmly in the realm of darker, maltier, fuller-bodied beers. Winter warmers are in the same vein as English-style old ales, often stronger beers brewed with a significant amount of various malts and fermented with an English ale yeast. Winter warmers are more of a modern development compared to more traditional old ales, and brewers often take liberties with recipes by adding appropriate spices.

When pouring a glass of 4 Elf, the variety of malts used, including darker malts, is evident in the very dark brown color of the beer. It's well-carbonated, with a thin head of foam that follows the beer down the glass as you drink. The aroma consists of gingerbread, spices, clove, and dark fruits like raisins, plums and dates. While this description may indicate an overly sweet beer, the flavors don't cross this line. With each taste, there's a spicy yet sweet combination, providing flavors of cinnamon, gingerbread, spiced cake, dark fruits, and a subtle earthiness from the hops presence. There's little hop bitterness, and the profile leans heavily toward malt, but 4 Elf still manages to maintain balance. It's a great winter warmer that's stronger than many, at nearly 9 percent ABV, with a lot of flavors that are just right for the season.

If you still need a choice for which beer to savor as you ring in the new year, why not grab some 4 Elf? Now, back to your holiday cheer! I hope 2014 treated you well in so many ways, and best wishes for a wonderful 2015.