After a couple of cups of coffee way past when I should have had them, I wasn’t as near as ready for bed as I should have been. And with sheets of ice covering the 4 inches of recently fallen snow and Elf playing on the TV, a winter seasonal seemed a more than appropriate reason to delay sleep.

This American amber from Capital is as pure and clean as they come. Save for a few bubbles of carbonation it was a still body of translucent orange and tan, capped by a few dabs of a thin ivory head. It smelled great, an intense blend of malts, bread, citrus and spices. The taste was a heavy bitter, well rounded by the malty backbone and a clean finish. It was both refreshing and substantial. Its the type of beer you’d want in the winter, but not just to sip, rather to wash down a heavy stew or a roast. The finish ends clean and dry, blended with citrus and bready notes that feels almost more like a fruity, dry white wine rather than a beer.

A nice, clean, simple sessionable beer for the winter, Winter Skal feels both well built for a cold evening’s sipper and refreshing as an accompaniment to that rich, hearty holiday meal.