Monday, December 3, 2012

December 3 - Goose Island's Mild Winter



Why we picked it: Goose Island’s Summertime was one of our picks for the 24 Beers of Summer and it got high ratings from the group.

About Goose Island’s Mild WinterToffee brown, medium-bodied, with a creamy head and an aroma of raisins and freshly baked dark bread. Mild Winter’s rich caramel malt and spicy rye flavors are sure to take the bite out of whatever Old Man Winter brews up for you this year.

Style: American Mild Ale

Alcohol by Volume: 5.6%

International Bitterness Units: 28

Color: Toffee

Hops: Willamette, Tettnang

Malts: 2-Row, Carapils, Dark Chocolate, Roast Barley, Rye Flake

Case Cost: $35

* website: http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/mild_winter/21.php

32 comments:

  1. Haven't had it yet but 'Toffee brown, medium-bodied, with a creamy head'

    Just saying.

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  2. This beer isn't bad. Not bad at all. Definitely a "mild" ale, but I like that...not too filling. Goose Island has several good beers to offer.

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  3. Love this beer! This is exactly why I love Ale's. Great flavors and a full bodied taste. Really enjoyed the the creamy feel and caramel flavor with no aftertaste of bitterness. Would definitely buy this. Plus who knew Bolter would perfectly describe my taste in women and beer! He captures it perfectly.

    Rating: 8.8

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  4. One time, in September, I went to a bachelor party in Chicago. On Saturday we went to the Wrigley rooftops, and they had like 7 or 8 different Goose Islands on tap. My favorite was the Cubby Bear Blue. Second favorite was the 3-1-2, or as I say, the 'three-one-deuce', which is a Wheat Beer and is really good too. They also have a Green line beer and a Honkers ale and that is all I could remember. It was all you can drink and eat, so needless to say I drank all of them. Then me and my boy Scripps, whom I shared a bed with at hotel (it was Kosher, don't worry) made friends with a group of Puerto Ricans on the rooftop. After the game we went with our Puerto Rican friends to the Cubby Bear Bar across the street, who just happened to have the awesomest DJ in the world bumping the Bone-Thugs and Biggie at like 4:30 in the afternoon....so we took the RedLine back downtown to hotel to meet up with the group we were with that we lost at some point in afternoon. Later that evening we went to a late dinner at this place called the Admiral's Theater, which doesn't serve alcohol (you just go to bar beside place which is annoying, but effective).They put on this show at about 11:30pm and 1am where they get these two girls on stage, and there is a glass shower, and they have water that some how gets in the shower and then girls....use your imagination.
    http://www.skyboxonsheffield.com/
    http://admiralx.com/

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  5. I take that back, the 11:30 scene was two girls in the shower. The 1am was two girls dressed like Egyptians (post-Mubarak era) that were in a tomb that looked like King Tut and really liked each other. A lot. Kinda like what you see online but much better in person. Then the cab driver we got back that night at like 3am was either drunk or asleep or lit up or all of the above. I was shitfaced (obvi) by this point, but this mother F*kr couldnt drive a straight line to save his life and he was driving like 40mph on the interstate or like 80...no middle ground whatsoever. First I asked if he was ok then I just started talking shit to him. I wasnt as confident in his abilities as the actresses at the theater......and the mild winter beer is really good btw.

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  6. Jonny thanks for the link. Adelina and Page are worth taking a trip to the windy city. Amateur night sounds like it would be a train wreck of C-section scars and one legged hairy upper lipped chubby girls trying to get their next crack fix. Wait. What?

    I'm not used to opening these bottles they are nothing like the classy twist offs that I'm used to. Tastes a lot like a Sam Adams to me. I like my beer like I like my women. Light skinned and goes down easy.

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  7. When I think of winter beer, this is what I think of. It was heavy, taste of cinnomon or nutmeg (not sure), and a great aftertaste. The only downside is that I can only have one tonight unless I can convince Cassandra that she doesn't like hers. 10 out of 10

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  8. What the he'll is a willi glass?

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  9. Perfect for Monday night football - good pick and I'd definitely drink again. This post isn't nearly as entertaining as the previous post - wow...

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  10. I had to get used to the immediate aftertaste but after a couple of gulps, settled in fine. Nothing tremendous but nothing horrendous. Wouldn't go out of my way for it but wouldn't turn it down if offered to me.

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  11. I like my beer like I like my men...toffee brown, medium-bodied with a ...oh never mind. Likes this. Didn't have too much goose flavor. Also better than Miller Lite.

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  12. This was great. Not too heavy, not too bitter. I would give it an 8/10.

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  13. I can't compare to Jonny's heartwarming and poignant tale with this post (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poignant for Bolter), so I'll just say we liked the beer. A delightful bit of chocolate on the nose (cue the comments on that), nice and hearty. Aftertaste was a little icky, but otherwise nice taste. I thought it was an interesting combination of flavors - almost like an ale mixed with a porter with a dash of IPA thrown in. A good beer to sip on the couch while watching someone else decorate.

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  15. Goose Island has long been one of my fav breweries - for Honkers Ale, in particular - but this was my first taste of the Mild Winter. Admittedly, I am one of those rare people that doesn't really care for chocolate, so I got a little nervous about the dark chocolate malts would just turn this is into a full-fledged choco-toffee beer. Fortunately, it was more subtle and aromatic and with roast and caramel also coming through. This type of beer will never be one of my favorites, but this a solid winter ale. Grade: 5/10

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  16. I thought I'd been drunk on every Goose Island beer in existence. I mean, not Jonny Ringo drunk, but good and drunk. But I'd never had this. I'm a big fan of mild winters myself and so I thought maybe that would translate to beer. Not my favorite. I'll take the Goose Island Honker's or Summertime or Tres-Uno-Deuce over this one, but nothing wrong with it. Just not my style. However, I'll say we're 3 for 3 so far. Excellent work.

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  17. HO,HO,Ho..Ha! An ale with a nice medium body smooth, with a Toffee brown color and a creamy head with an aroma of bake spicy bread and a caramel finish... sweet! Especially enjoyed it when watching the sweet WIN of the Redskins tonight against the Giant. I loved it thank you Santa!..(and RG3)...
    I will buy that beer again...Rated 7.9/10

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  18. Clearly I need to run with Jonny Ringo. I had an eerily similar experience on a bachelor party trip to Chicago. The key difference was that we loaded up on Old Style's at Wrigley. If I'd been offered anything else at the Friendly Confines, I would have scoffed at the notion and returned to the five paper cups of warm Old Style lining the left field bleacher in front of me. Also, we didn't meet up with any Puerto Ricans. We somehow managed to convince two waitresses from the Cubby Bear to meet us downtown for drinks. One of them was wearing a shirt that said "Princess" on it. It was quite a night. Oh, and we didn't stay in a hotel and share beds. One of my idiot friends decided we needed to save money and we stayed in a HOSTEL. Yes, a hostel fully equipped with a guy in a beret smoking a cigarette and playing chess in the front room with Lionel Joseph from the African Education Conference. I'm not making this up. We had to rent sheets and towels.

    Today's beer gave me an excuse to use the Goose Island glass I acquired in Little Rock, Arkansas of all places. That's another story that involves Flying Saucers and Bill Clinton's fifth grade report card. I liked the beer. It was definitely better than warm Old Style.

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  19. I see the bar is being set high this year with the blog posts. Katy must be so happy. It's not quite the same without Brad, his positive, warm hearted "glass half full" view on things is hard to replace. I'm shotgunning tomorrow's beer.

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  20. Enjoyed this before the Redskins game...I give it an RG3 out of 4.

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  21. I AM so happy with the blog posts. I hope Jonny Ringo keeps this momentum up. Didn't have a chance to drink Goose Island last night - instead I was watching Tony get drunk at his company holiday party and collect clothespins. You know the game where if you say a drink, drank, drunk, put your hands in your pockets, cross your legs, point your finger, etc etc, someone will take your clothespin. Whoever had the most at the end of the night wins.....a book. Tony had about 30 at one point and then he pointed his finger at someone with their hands in their pocket and lost.

    Maybe I'll shotgun this one tonight with Bolter.

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  22. I think I might have liked this beer, however I only got about 1 drink before Phil Evans stole it out of my hands and chugged it. Maybe one day I can actually try one.

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  23. I'll go with meh on this one.

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  24. As much as I liked the summer Goose Island beer, I had high hopes for this one but it was a disappointment. Didn't even want to finish it and I question how Bob Evans chugged it....well, nevermind - that sounds about right!

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  25. Late to the party here, but I really liked this beer. Definite favorite so far.

    Grade: blackout drunk with a side of vandalism

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  26. Not sure how I feel about this one. I keep tasting it and trying to determine if I like it or not. I guess this one is just OK for me. Maybe because it's a winter beer, but it's 60+ degrees outside. 6.5 out of 10 C-.

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  27. I liked this one. It was a good winter Ale. I like it over Sam's and a few others because it is smooth. Probably about a 7 out of 10

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  28. Goose Island was my gateway into craft beer, so I'll always have a soft spot in my liver for it. And I'm happy that it's so readily available on the East Coast now. A Honkers Ale in the summertime definitely takes me back to Wrigley -- though not Johnny's post-game festivities. (Dammit.)

    Anyway, I liked this beer. Maybe I didn't "like like" it, but I enjoyed it. The name really sums it up. It's a nice transitional beer from some of the end-of-fall harvest ales and Octoberfest into the ports and stouts of winter.

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