Abominable Winter Ale

I feel ashamed to say that I have not reviewed a beer from Portland Oregon's own Hopworks Urban Brewery (or HUB for short) for the entire duration I have been writing on this blog. I can only think of one real complaint from these guys, and that's the lack of strong, malty, and darker ales I so love and adore. Other than that I have zero complaints not one. Their beers are definitely for the hop-headed, bushels of hop taste in just about every brew, though they do have a smooth pale ale, stout, and red that are very good. Their bottles are readily available at the Beer Junction and 99 bottles, and a whole host of supermarkets in the area. On a brief side note of the blog, if you find yourself in Portland take time to visit the brewery. It's the epitomy of a green brewery, with all sorts of cool inovations around the place. Besides having great beer, the place is run and operated by great people. Several family and friends of mine went on a brewery tour last spring that we planned, they accomadated us with a free tour, and samples galor! My god I really needed a breather after all the brew they were handing out. So if you have not been yet, go it's worth the trip, and they blew the next brewery we went to out of the water (I'm scouring at you Lucky Labrador on Hawthorne, for shame). Anyway for my first review I decided to go with a maltier ale from the group at HUB, and went with their Abominable Winter Ale. First off, I love the drawing! I know peripherals, but catoonish yetis somehow make me wax nostalgic about my youth. Now as with just about every ale they crank out, the first impression is this was brewed hoppy, and with a tinge of citrus smell. The citrus part does not really translate to the taste on this one. Instead as you delve in it starts to get a taste similar to a spiced type hop ale. Now the bottle says a nice maltier finish to this beer, and as a big scotch ale fan I can say that it is not really malty at all. Though there is a better hint of that flavor than most of their other intensely hoppy ales. It seems it may be taking it's powers to squash that citrusy hop taste into something that it is a slightly malty hop ale. Now alot of other winter warmer ales are generally nice and malty, with a dark roasted taste. There are some variations that veer more towards the hoppy end of the spectrum, and the Abominable Winter Ale is one of these. I would say it compares closer to Full Sail's Wreck the Halls winter ale (this is not the Wassail winter warmer, but another ale). It's always best to break out and have an ale that doesn't imitate every other winter warmer out there. This beer like all great winter ales has a kick that would make a donkey blush (yeah that's right vague farm references) clocking in at a healthy 7.3%. As with all their beers, HUB crafts a very drinkable, well rounded ale that is of some of the best quality out there. If you haven't had the pleasure of one of their ales this is a great place to start, and I request, ne demand you the drinking public take the time to enjoy a HUB ale once before you die.