New Glarus Thumbprint Series Spiced Ale

Brewed By: New Glarus Brewing Company in New Glarus, Wisconsin

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 4-pack bought at Woodman's in Kenosha, WI; 2014 

Style/ABV: Spice/Herb Beer, ??.??% 

Reported IBUs: ?

Continuing with the New Glarus stuff....about New Glarus:

New Glarus is the rare, gorgeous "Midwest" brewery, founded in 1993 by Deborah Carey, the first woman to found and operate a brewery in the United States. She raised the capital for the start-up as a gift to her husband, Dan Carey, who is New Glarus' brewmaster and co-owner. Dan Carey has a long history working in the brewing industry, including an apprenticeship at a brewery near Munich, Germany and a job as the Production Supervisor for Anheuser-Busch. The brewery began as an abandoned warehouse using old brewpub equipment. In 1997, Dan Carey purchased coper kettles from a brewery in Germany. In May 2006, New Glarus opened their new (current) facility on a hilltop in the village of New Glarus. The facility looks like a Bavarian village, and is gorgeous. The expansion has allowed the brewery to continue to increase their production, and expand their operations. For more information, check out their brewery page or Wikipedia. 

The Thumbprint Spiced Ale is part of New Glarus' Thumbprint Series, and is brewed using "lavish" English and Wisconsins malts. This beer is aged on Oak in the open top cellar, and features Cassia Cinnamon, Ginger and Allspice spices. This one sounds a lot like an American Wild Ale brewed with spices, but let's see what we got.

New Glarus Thumbprint Series Spiced Ale

This one pours into an orange, clear body, kicking up three fingers of really nice, fluffy, soapy head. The head drops some nice lacing as it falls off, and the head is tinged with gold and orange tones. There is quite a bit of peppery carbonation rising up on this. 

On the aroma: bananas. Wow. This smells like a Hefeweizen-Gose-Berliner. I'm getting bananas, clove, watermelon, wheat, rye, ginger, cardamon, and big allspice. There's some nice bready notes on the aroma, with hints of toffee and bread. There is a slightly salty aspect to the aroma as well. Nice.

The taste is surprisingly spicy and boozy, with big ginger and allspice, nutmeg, cardamon, clove, and bready rye spice. There's some wheat, banana, and bubblegum in here as well, with light salt, and some hints of lemony funk, watermelon, and some bitter hops towards the back. The bitter hops are earthy, and hint towards green and cucumber. What a weird...interesting beer.

This beer could easily go off the rails into the land of undrinkable messes, but there's a slightly tart, salty aspect that ties everything together and brings the beer home. Like I said earlier, this beer has qualities that are almost Gose-like. And there are also some hints at the Berliner style, though I'm not getting any lactic tartness or Brett funk in this beer. It's a beautiful Winter/Spring beer...I don't know what the ABV is, but there is a nice mix of booze and spice. This drinks easily, and it has good duration, palate depth, and complexity. Up front: a wash of creamy wheat, spices, bubblegum, some watermelon, fruitiness; the mids dial up big spice, more bubble gum, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, slightly salty, more bubblegum; the back end brings on some tartness, lemon, lingering spice. There's a malty backbone, with rye and bread. The finish is spicy and clean. It's a spiced beer, but it's refreshing and good.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. I really like this. This is a good beer, and if spiced beers are your bag, check this out. This should be in the wheelhouse for anyone that likes a nice Gose or Berliner. There's big spice here, fruity goodness, funk, and tons of bready notes. And this one has a nice balance and interplay between the booze and spice. This one is experimental and weird, but it's good stuff. Food pairings here include hearty stews, peppery chicken or turkey, warm apple or pumpkin pie, and anything in your Thanksgiving or Christmas season dinner lineup. 

Random Thought: It's only April so I'm not feeling nostalgic for Winter and won't be for a long time, but I feel like this beer would be right at home during the Winter months.