Winter Shredder - Cisco Brewers Inc.

avalon07

South Carolina

3.55/5  rDev +10.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

A: Poured from a bottle to a pint glass. Had a dark brown color and a hazy consistency. There was a small amount of foamy head that quickly dissipated. Average lacing.

S: An enticing, very spicy, herbal aroma. Interesting.

T: Tasted of spices (cloves, cinnamon), gingerbread, a little chocolate, malt, light hops and some caramel. This would have been a better flavor if not for the overwhelming herbal quality in it. It tends to dominate the palate.

M: A good amount of carbonation, but the finish is far too harsh (again the herbal quality). Medium-bodied.

O: Not a terrible beer, but there are definitely better examples of Winter Warmers out there.

Serving type: bottle

12-08-2012 12:54:11 | More by avalon07

alexgash

Connecticut

3.78/5  rDev +18.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12 oz. bottle.

Dark ruby copper body. Clear. Finger of moderately thick, substantive, dirty beige head. Nice lacing. Nose is a festive blend of warm malts and spices. Caramel cookie and berry-ish fruits mix with citrus peel, juniper, and maybe some ginger.

Toasted grain and herbal, woody bitterness up front. Sweetish caramel malt and fruit fill in and take over the palate. Notes of gingerbread and molasses. Mulled wine spices, juniper, ginger, and cloves (?) around the edges. Herbal, woody bitterness shows up again in the finish. Medium body with a slightly syrupy feel. Not bad.

Serving type: bottle

12-08-2012 02:17:32 | More by alexgash

GarthDanielson

New Hampshire

3.9/5  rDev +21.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a bottle into a tumbler pint, the beer is a dark, vibrant, crystal clear, hazelnut brown coloring with a thin, sparse, filmy surface coating. Aromas of nutmeg, allspice, and cinnamon on a subtle toffee backbone, with some warm cider hints at the end. Lighter on the nose than I was expecting. Flavors are rich and roasted initially, with a tangy toffee malt profile initially, followed by a solid dose of the previously mentioned spices, as well as some peppery hops profiles sprinkled throughout. The liberal spicing definitely provides the warmth in this winter warmer, but without overpowering the brew. Very solid backbone of malt richness to support everything going on on your palate. Tangy and spiced aftertaste that quickly washes away for a clean, slightly tangy finish that lingers longer than the bulk of the aftertaste itself. Smooth and round in mouth, but as it finishes you notice how crisp and clean the brew is. Solid, and at a lower ABV for a warmer, making this easy to quaff.

Serving type: bottle

12-05-2012 23:52:54 | More by GarthDanielson

tkelley

Massachusetts

3.73/5  rDev +16.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

12 oz bottle poured into a shaker pint.

Dark brown, dark amber in the light. Nice beige head. Not much lacing.

Smells piney. Not as much winter spice on the nose as a lot of other warmers but a deep inhale shows nutmeg and ginger with an orange peel backbone. Resiny and hop spice.

Taste is spicy from the hops, like a christmas tree in your mouth. Again, the standard warmer spices are there but not as much as in others of the genre. I prefer the hops to the spice dominance, but the spice presence is good for the season so I like this quite a bit.

It has a heavy mouthfeel like a nice piece of fruitcake. Lingering finish with the spice-spices (as opposed to the hop spiciness) beginning up front and heading to the back of the tongue.

Overall, I like this beer a good deal. It isnt the best example of a winter warmer, but I think it is a really solid overall winter beer. Not too boozy, but full of flavors and beery goodness.

Cheers!

Serving type: bottle

12-05-2012 01:52:29 | More by tkelley

woodychandler

Pennsylvania

3.68/5  rDev +15%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

I was on a mini-shopping spree in Philly last weekend and managed to pick up a bunch of Winter beers, but in bottles. I have a backlog of CANs that will soon be my focus.

From the bottle: "Gnar-Gnar Lumpkin, shreddingest snowman this side of Nantucket Sound, likes nothing better than catching a wave on his board ... a Cisco wave that is cold, fresh, and wicked cool! Get mad shacked with the Shredder and have yourself a merry little winter."

I went with my usual aggro pour which resulted in two-plus fingers of dense tawny head with great retention. Color was a magnificent deep-copper with NE-quality clarity. I once had a girlfriend with natural hair color like that. Nose was spicy and I want to go with (at least) cinnamon and nutmeg. The former was easy to discern, but the latter because of a vanilla-like sweetness that was also present. More than that? Maybe. Probably. But those were the ones that I am willing to mention without being thought a pretentious fool. Mouthfeel was medium and the cinnamon was immediately discernible on the tonue along with something else, not nutmeg, but maybe allspice. Whatever it was, it was highly spiced. The finish, as a result, was bone-dry with the spices lingering well after my swallow. One or two at a sitting might be good, but I would not want a steady diet of this, even on the coldest and longest of winter nights.

Serving type: bottle

12-04-2012 23:29:58 | More by woodychandler

VelvetExtract

Massachusetts

3.73/5  rDev +16.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A-Pours a clear chestnut color. Head is off-white (leaning towards tan). It dies off to a thin white slash of foam. The head leaves mere speckles of lacing. Body glows dimly.

S-Holiday spice with a hint of dog food. A hint of medicine. I am also getting some gingerbread with nutmeg and cinnamon. Burnt caramel. Fruity with a little tickle of cocoa.

T-The spices really pop up. There is also a surprisingly forceful bitterness. Piney and medicinal hoppiness. Gingerbread. Cloves. Fruit cake. A bit minty.

M-Far dryer and more bitter than I thought it would be. Medium bodied with subtle carbonation. Semi-crisp.

O/D-A Winter Warmer with some oomph behind it. I would probably not enjoy an entire six-pack, but a bottle would do just fine. The spices are set to a fairly high degree of intensity. Could stand to use some food around it.

Serving type: bottle

11-30-2012 21:37:14 | More by VelvetExtract

MoreThanWine

Massachusetts

3.83/5  rDev +19.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured a 1" velvet beige head of medium lifespan. The body is dark burnt umber brown but held to the light it's a very deep amber. It smells of toasted malt and the spices actuall smell savory. Taste mirrors smell and the spices come out with warming ginger as well as piney hops. Fairly long finish. And yes, this beer truly is a warmer.

Serving type: bottle

11-19-2012 09:53:18 | More by MoreThanWine

Brad007

Vermont

4.13/5  rDev +29.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Reviewing a winter seasonal in late winter? That's me!

Pours a nice burgundy color with a one-finger head into my glass. Nothing special but it's a nice hue!

Spicy with nutmeg and sweet malt. Not much else to talk about here. Your standard winter seasonal?

Mmm. Nutmeg and spice but not as much as the malt itself. Very bready. Chewy.

Ditto on the mouthfeel. Lingering chewy, bready malt. Mmm. Less spice, more nice.

Very good seasonal here. Probably because it doesn't go overboard on the spices.

Serving type: bottle

02-26-2012 02:24:26 | More by Brad007

jlindros

Massachusetts

3.43/5  rDev +7.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Pours a slightly darker colored fluffy fizzy head of 1.5 fingers that fades slowly with a bit of lacing, over clear cranberry reddish color.

Nose is weird and has a lot going on, plenty of weird spices to start, with a light anise, ginger, clove, coriander, nutmeg, cardamom, cocoa, cinnamon, caramel, etc. There is also a bit of smoked malt and plenty of caramel malts and toasty reddish malts, and a strange almost farmhouse like saison musty funk.

Taste starts with malts, a bit of smoked malt comes out at first with a light smoked cheese flavor and some creaminess that helps accentuate that. Then a light caramel and brown sugar flavor, chewy almost. Light toasty malts as well with a hint of a bready biscuit. The hops kick in next with a spicy earthy hop kick and decent bitterness that borders astringent. Spices come in behind the hops and get stronger as it warms, again ginger, clove, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, etc. as well as very light cocoa, anise, and pumpkin like spice. it finishes a bit astringent as the earthy spicy hops really take over with a strong bitterness and overpower the rest of the beer, even the spices, semi dry finish, but also light lingering spices and toasty caramel like malts.

Mouth is med bodied, decent carb.

Overall fairly meh, spices come through a bit but not a lot which is nice if the astringent spicy earthy hops didn't take their place as front runner when not necessary. Nothing seems to blend well, and its like various components of different styles all smashed together and they hoped would get along, but instead the flavors clash.

Serving type: bottle

02-18-2012 20:08:13 | More by jlindros

TheManiacalOne

Rhode Island

2.75/5  rDev -14.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Poured from a 12oz bottle into a tulip glass.

A: The beer is a deep dark reddish brown color with a thin off-white head that fades quickly and leaves a thin lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains spices chocolate, some fruit, roasted malts and some hops.

T: The taste starts out with an earthy spice flavor followed by mildly sweet flavors of chocolate, caramel and a bit of fruit. There’s a hearty malt character and a mild hops presence but not much balance. The after-taste is slightly spicy and slightly bready.

M: Crisp but not very smooth, medium body, medium carbonation, finish is slightly sticky.

O: Not very tasty, goes down ok, slightly filling, decent kick, decent representation of style, this is definitely not a beer that I enjoyed very much.

Serving type: bottle

02-09-2012 02:47:48 | More by TheManiacalOne

AleWatcher

Illinois

2.88/5  rDev -10%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Blind Beer #6 from Shogo.
Calls for a pint.
Poured and sampled initially completely blind.

Well, this is certainly smoked. I can smell it before I pour the bottle.
A rusty red body holds some purple hues and a tan crown of 2 fingers. Decent retention and lacing. I kinda like the looks...

The smell has an earthy smokiness dominating. The malts are super smoked. This is like some sort of smoked amber ale perhaps? Smoked bock?

The flavor adds a little smoked pork vibe on the very dry acrid finish. The earthy smokiness lines up with some big woody campfire notes as well. Acrid, dry, and bitter finish. The woody notes have a strange flavor to them but I cannot place it.

Feels medium with ample bubbles. I find this beer to be rather boring, and quite one-dimensional in that it's all smoke. There's no real contribution from anything else, and I cannot even taste any part of the malt bill (except the smoke, obviously).

REVEAL--- Winter Shredder from Cisco Brewers.

Overall-- Wow. After seeing what this beer is (a winter warmer!) and noting some of the reviews I can see that I picked up way more smoke than others-- though others did mention it.
It seems that I immediately noticed the smokey notes and that dominated my attention. I don't get any of the other bullshit "spices" that other reviewers claim to note.

Now that I know what this is, here are my numbers-
A-4.5
S-3.5
T-2
M-3.5
O-3.5

Serving type: bottle

02-02-2012 02:15:25 | More by AleWatcher

gkatsoris

Pennsylvania

2.68/5  rDev -16.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

A: Clear dark brown. Huge, thick, fluffy head. Left a nice lace on the glass.

S: Ginger snaps! Ginger, clove, cinnamom, cardamom. Pumpkin bread, zucchini bread. Fairly malty. Alcoholy. Buttery. This is friggen complex smelling! Coke syrup.

T: Cloves upfront, cinnamon at the end. Grass. Wood. Ginger snaps!!! Slight smoke. Roasty malts is the last flavor tasted.

M: This, but coats the tongue pretty well. Nice finish.

O: Just not for me that's all.

Thanks redliner8!!

Serving type: bottle

01-28-2012 02:50:16 | More by gkatsoris

smcolw

Massachusetts

3.95/5  rDev +23.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

The bottle overflows when opened, barely made it to the glass. Excellent ring lace from single-fingered and long lasting head. The broth is dark amber, similar to Grade A maple syrup.

Strong aroma of clove and nutmeg. There is some near-burnt malt smells as well. Light hop.

Dry flavored with the malt tilting toward black patent (subtle burnt flavors). Relatively thin, but with a low carbonation. The finish is straight bitterness from high alpha hops. It's well-balanced but notable, long lasting as well. Little spice flavor.

Serving type: bottle

01-27-2012 22:24:01 | More by smcolw

Durge

Connecticut

4.13/5  rDev +29.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Looking at the previous reviews, I am a little surprised at the Pumple Drumkin analogy. Certainly they are close cousins but having had the PD at the brewery and this one in the bottle, I see a fair enough distinction and I like this one on its own merits as well as the PD. This bottle opens with a lively head, tan in color and a couple fingers thick. It holds pretty well and retreats to an impressive web of lacing. My nose picks up evergreen and allspice and subtle cinnamon and maybe a deeply buried chocolate kiss over oranges and mellow roasted coffee beans. Very pleasant and complex from my experience, perhaps a tad medicinal to some, but i really like this aroma. The flavor is more unified I think, a blend of toasted malts and subtle chocolate coffee grains over evergreen. I guess you might find all the same things that came out in the nose but it seems more subtle here and highly drinkable for a holiday/winter brew.This presents a reputable medium body but a bit more aqueous feel with gentle, tingly carbonation despite it's opening emergence. I think this is a neat seasonal brew that I'm glad I picked up. Another plus hit from the Nantucket crew! Nice.

Serving type: bottle

01-27-2012 05:39:58 | More by Durge

LtCracker20

Connecticut

3.8/5  rDev +18.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A- Pours a deep ruby red hued body with a nice and soft 2-finger khaki head that shows some very nice retention. Pretty nice lacing as well.

S- Sweet malts, ginger, some citrus, dried fruits, a little vanilla maybe, and some clove.

T- Sweet caramel, ginger, definate clove, and a little fruity. Some bitter bite stays on the tongue for a little while after the swallow.

MF- Not too full bodied, but very creamy and the flavors seem to linger for quite a while.

Serving type: bottle

01-07-2012 03:20:20 | More by LtCracker20

OtherShoe2

Massachusetts

3.78/5  rDev +18.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours dark brown with a cream colored head. Ring of bubbles, surprising splash of lace at every sip.

Dark malt, some slight pie spice, cinnamon, clove, toasted bread. Like over browned raisin toast, with mild spice.

Over-brown, bitter raisin toast it is!. Brown bread crust, no sweetness. Dry bitter malt and hops, a touch of spice, long and bitter in the finish -- almost bitter herbs/bitter roots. Malt comes thru in the middle -- a nice toasted quality that gets pushed aside for pure hop bitterness. Funny enough, this has qualities within the malt that remind me of Cisco brews. That I like. A bit harsh? Yes...Does it work? Yes...

Medium body, a little astringent.

A touch over-bitter, but still works. I love the fact this isn't over-spiced. Solid brew. Could use a bit of sweetness or breadiness up front to help balance it. Long bitterness without any hop character make this one hard to session. Well made, no joke when it comes to asserting its strengths.

Serving type: bottle

12-23-2011 23:50:32 | More by OtherShoe2

Thads324

Connecticut

4.03/5  rDev +25.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Pours a lovely deep reddish brown. Very thin head that disappears to a thin edge quickly. Smells of roasted malts, some smoke and cinnamon. Mostly caramel and toffee on the second whiff. There's some dried fruit and apple strudel aromas peeking through as well. Also some vanilla, but just a minor inkling. Very nice!
Taste is hefty sweet malt and spices. Cinnamon and clove dominate the start. A piney hop bitterness begins and never seems to end and then there is a smooth balancing act performed by cara malt. A bit of biscuity toffee and more of that resiny hop at the end. Mouthfeel is solid and medium bodied.
As this beer warms, a bit of booze becomes present. I can't find the abv anywhere and nothing about this beer is online!

Overall I really enjoy this beer. It's mildly spiced, flavorful and balanced. Definitely a nice winter beer to sip after a long day of shredding powder on the mountain. I'll certainly buy another 6 as the weather gets colder.

Serving type: bottle

12-22-2011 03:34:59 | More by Thads324

BeerResearcher

Massachusetts

3.98/5  rDev +24.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12 oz brown bottle. No freshness date.
It pours a ruby-hued dark amber color with a fast-fading off-white, with bits of patchy lacing.
A raw malty smell jumps out at first pour. A whiff of mashed berries and nutmeg follow close behind. Citrusy and sprucy hops peak through and last throughout. A mild perfume alcohol is present.
Tastes of sweet malt, citrus zest and pine, berries and spices mix and mingle. The alcohol is noticeable throughout, but nicely in the background.
This could very well be the East Coast's answer to Anchor's Christmas Ale.

Serving type: bottle

12-17-2011 23:18:49 | More by BeerResearcher