Secret Spot Winter Ale - Evolution Craft Brewing Company

Billolick

New York

3.88/5  rDev +6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 12 oz brown bottle into an Ommegang tulip. Best by Mar 2013 notched onto the side of the label. Picked by a friend at Stateline on the MD/DE border

A: Pours lightly hazed medium amber. Darker khaki cap, slow to fade, thick collar and film. Leaves some low sheeting.

S: Malts dominate the nose. Caramel and toast abound

T: Malty brew, dark toast, maple and more caramel. Also some moderate winter spicing and then moderate drying hops late.

M: Smooth and pleasant on the tongue and coating the mouth. The body is medium and the carbonation is on the lower side but fine for the style.

O: Enjoyable enough brew. Malty beer lovers will enjoy this one.

Serving type: bottle

01-01-2013 01:20:25 | More by Billolick

Rifugium

Pennsylvania

3.85/5  rDev +5.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

First had: on tap at TJ's, Paoli, PA

Clear honey-amber pour, topped with a small bubbly off-white head; minimal retention, and a few streaks of lacing. Caramel malts in the nose, some floral and citrus hops. Taste of caramel malts, toasted grains, toffee backbone, quickly giving way to a crisp hoppiness, orange peel and floral notes, fairly bitter from mid-palate onward. Hoppier than I'd expect for an altbier, maybe even closer to an APA, but still good either way. Medium body and pretty good overall.

Serving type: on-tap

11-15-2012 00:36:35 | More by Rifugium

mdaschaf

Washington

3.88/5  rDev +6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Review from notes. Had on tap at the brewery.

A: Pours an amber/copper color with a one finger white head that dissipates rather quickly to a ring on the top of the beer. Decent lacing.

S: A little bit of floral hops, but mostly malt driven. Some toffee and caramel dominate the rest of the aroma.

T: Toast malt, toffee, some nice caramelized sugar, and a surprising hop kick.

M: Medium bodied with good carbonation, has a slightly sticky and dry finish.

O: Quite good, reminds of their ESB almost with more hops. Too bad it won't be around until next winter as this is a nice beer for the cold months.

Serving type: on-tap

04-01-2011 01:46:39 | More by mdaschaf

argock

Virginia

3.9/5  rDev +6.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 12 oz brown bottle into a Duvel tulip. Best by Mar 2013 notched on side of label. Single received a a local beer exchange event.

A: Crystal clear dusky dark amber with a 1-finger foamy beige head with good retention which leaves a creamy but thin layer of lacing.

S: Dark malts with caramel and toffee met with strong earthy, herbal hopping.

T: The flavor is very on par with a strong red ale until the hops bitterness melts into an herbal noble flavor. The maltiness is very amber ale in content with a lot of toffee and smoky burnt caramel character. The hopping is "assertive" per the Evolution website, and that is putting it likely as the bitterness is very strong and carries all the way through the drink.

M: Very smooth and creamy although not as light as many alts, but I would consider this more of a red ale aggressively hopped with noble hops. Body is medium and carbonation is low-medium.

O: I enjoyed this beer, and Evolution Brewing has had several very good brews in their initial splash into VA (see Lot #3 IPA for the best of the bunch). Secret Spot is also a high quality brew that crosses style lines of WEst Coast style red ale with super-noble hopped altbier. Definitely this is a good one to check out.

Serving type: bottle

12-19-2012 02:41:47 | More by argock

lackenhauser

Maryland

3.88/5  rDev +6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I was told this is a double alt or a sticke alt-that being said-Very nice coppery color. Sweet caramel and malt aroma with a touch of floral hoppiness. Very solid malty flavors upfront. Definate hop presence-more so then any other alt beer I have had. Lingering caramel presence. Great residual sweetness going on. Has a nice bite in the finish. Soft, almost a creamy body. Goes down quite easy. Very enjoyable. Nice beer for the colder months.

Serving type: growler

11-26-2010 04:03:34 | More by lackenhauser

AdamBear

Pennsylvania

3.65/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

I've some altbiers before, but still I really never know what to expect from them...one of the more mysterious styles for me still.

A-decent amber with a thin, barely noticeable cream colored head

S-altbier...? I'm thinking IPA!!! creamy nice hops and a sweet buttercream note to it. smells awesome! Altbier??? no. i'm excited for this one. decent strength.

T-okay well all the IPAness just left the building. it comes in with a creamy, grainy taste of sweet buttercream...only slightly. some sort of a taste of muted herbal hops...some what. it does have the slightest touch of bitterness to it. has a decent quality.

M-creamy medium carbonation with a semi-dry finish

O-once again the altbier is beyond me. At first I was like IPA? but then i was like nahhh. it certainly has the nose of an IPA, but the taste of a muted IPA that is somewhat more dignified and stable. It is what it is, and its proud, and it won't change. it is...worth a try I'll say. it's really just an easy drinker, much like an APA.

Serving type: bottle

12-11-2012 02:19:54 | More by AdamBear

larryi86

Delaware

4.05/5  rDev +10.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

12 oz bottle poured into a snifter

A- A clear amber color with a two finger white head.

S- Floral hops, toasted malts, some toffee.

T- Follows the nose, hops give this beer a nice bitter finish, great toasted malts, some toffee.

M- Smooth, light to medium body.

O- A solid beer that I will be picking up again. Good beer for the colder months.

Serving type: bottle

11-18-2012 01:02:25 | More by larryi86

confer

Pennsylvania

3.95/5  rDev +7.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

I had it on tap and from a bottle, preferred the tap but reviewing the bottle.
Dark gold in color with red tints at the light. Off white head that never fully goes away.
Smell is all malt. Reminds my of a doppel bock.
Slightly bitter hops are dominant in the taste, not to many just enough for little flavor.
Good alt beer. Evo is getting better all of the time.
As a bonus the tour guide brought a growler of Secret Spot along on the tour of the brewery and refreshed our glasses as he talked.

Serving type: bottle

01-06-2013 00:17:58 | More by confer

Jaynuze

District of Columbia

3.6/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A crisp finishing beer with a nicely rounded malt finish.
A: golden with nice light brown tinge
S: light notes of malt, mild hops, and light spice
T: light and biscuity with light hop notes
M: smooth finish and a solid mf. Light but carriea some heft with a bicuity malt finish
D: A great draft beer worth sipping at the bar with a nove salad and burger. Easy drinking and a light hop/malt finish

Serving type: on-tap

01-29-2011 21:22:41 | More by Jaynuze

8ense1

Maryland

4.38/5  rDev +19.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Evolution's new draft-only offering is a good one. I picked up a growler soon after the prototype was tapped and have been working on it a glass at a time ever since. It stands up well to other winter beer offerings, such as Anchor's 2010 Christmas Ale.

It pours a deep amber, with very modest foaming that clears quickly. The smell is pleasant, a floral scent from the hopping, but not very dominant. But from the first sip it comes across as a bigger beer than one would expect, with a lot of malt flavor. It is brown-sugary rather than chocolaty, and it goes down easily without cloying or building up.

What is interesting is that the hop "bite" is a delayed reaction. While you are still tasting the malt flavor, suddenly its IPA quality begins to tingle on your tongue, and then the herbal flavor of the hopping takes over. It's reminiscent of the impact that Dogfish Head got with its "Bitches Brew," which begins as a stout, but then changes to something more complex in your mouth.

"Secret Spot" doesn't at all taste like "Bitches Brew," but it works in the same hybrid way, an indication that the Evo folks are interested in combining beer types to see what happens. In this case, they get an interesting beer sipped in a beer-geeky way, and also a very good companion to a late-night pizza or other snack. Its bold impact belies its modest alcoholic content, so it is, like Evo's best offerings, quite sessionable.

I'd expect this to become a standard seasonal offering from Evo.

Serving type: growler

12-02-2010 03:47:56 | More by 8ense1