Full Sail Wassail
Brewed for the holiday season, Wassail is a delight with it’s warm flavors and festive holiday packaging. It’s a lush, garnet colored winter ale that has a malty full-body and a pleasant hoppy finish. Sure to warm the hearts of malt and hop lovers alike, Wassail is brewed with a 4 types of malts and is hopped with a special blend of imported hops.
3.5
684 reviews
Hood River, United States
Community reviews
Poured from bottle into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a deep brownish mahogany color with a small tan colored head. The head fades very fast leaving just a little bit of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma of the brew is rather strong of a sweet fruity smell of a dark fruit nature. The aroma is heaviest of some raisin and plum mixed with some other sweeter caramel aromas as well. Along with these smells comes some spice of nutmeg and a bit of nutmeg. Some lighter roasty smells as well as a little bit of a toast are there as well, creating a sweet and lightly roasty winter warmer smell.
Taste – The taste begins much drier than anticipated from the nose. It begins with just a bit of dark fruit flavors of raisin and plum with some light caramel mixed within. Along with these tastes, are some rather roasty flavors of dark toasted bread. As the taste advances, the roastiness increases a bit with some coffee notes coming to the tongue. All the while, the sweet fades some, with some spice flavors of nutmeg and clove taking their place. In the end, with the sweet fading, the spice and roast increasing, and the oncoming of a little bit of an earthy taste, one is left with a somewhat, drier, and darker spiced flavor to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is on the slightly thinner side for a winter warmer with a carbonation level that is average. A thicker body may have helped with the lighter sweetness and darker flavors of the brew accentuating them more, but overall the feel was OK.
Overall – A rather decent winter warmer. It didn’t have a huge sweetness or a huge booziness, like most winter warmers have; which was rather nice. It was in some ways too easy drinking and a little bland for its style.
On tap at the brewpub - Pours bronze / brown with a beige head. The aroma has heavy roast, brown sugar, richness, nuts and a bit of spice. It has a medium / full body, but is still a bit crisp and has soft carbonation. The flavor starts with hearty malt, fairly dry wood and is malt heavy. The finish has light spiciness and a hint of berries. Nice.
Hops of earth and some spice in aroma. Flavor is strong malts and some spice. Some alcohol heat and nice malty finish.
From NOTES.
A: pine, citrus, dark fruit, rich malt, touch of chocolate.
A: deep brown with cherry hues. finger of light tan head falls quickly to a sheet of the same. spotty lace.
T: Full malt palate up front, with a caramel/toasted malt foundation. Nice floral and bittering hops come through in the climax, along with sweet ethanol. Very well balanced.
P: Medium body and carbonation.
O: A very good warmer that only shows its abv when it needs to.
12 ounce bottle purchased at Total Wine Pembroke Pines, FL for $7.49/6-pack. Very good.
Solid brew. A bit different than the usual winter ale. Malty hoppy dark brown ruby color. Taste some toffee brown sugar earthy woodsy sweet dark fruit. Dry tart bitter finish. A nice treat will revisit next winter.
Bottle. Pours deep ruby/brown. Beige head - small with good retention. Nose has bread and dark fruits - huckleberry, some dark cherry - mild spice. Flavor is rich and inviting, lightly roasted dark bread, some molasses-like sweetness, floral-like hops hops present in the middle and become prominent towards the end, along with bitter orange-like bitterness. Palate is quite full and deep. Excellent representation of the style and everything a holiday/winter ale should be.
12 oz. bottle from Total Wine, Chesapeake, VA. Dark brown pour with a frothy off-white head. Aroma of graham cracker and toffee malts. Taste is malt forward, not surprisingly, with brown sugar, toffee, and caramel flavors and just a bit of floral hop presence to counter-balance. Some warmth on the finish. Succeeds as a very good English strong ale/Winter warmer.
Bottle - Pours a clear brown with some red highlights and a small head. Rich malt backbone with some caramel. Creamy caramel taste with an alcohol note. Nice winter warmer.
Pours deep amber color with a off white head. Caramel, toffee, dark fruit, malt and earthy hop aroma and flavors. Medium full body and moderate carbonation.
Very dark ruby with a one finger tan head. Aroma is a strange combination of citrus and sprucey hops with dark chocolate and vanilla. Dark malt flavor with a hoppy finish and after taste. Moderately heavy and creamy.
Brownish with creamy off white tan head. Earthy bitterness. Some Roasty. Dry. Metallic? The fact that I generally don’t care much for ’winter ales’ or English style ales in general skews my view here probably.
On tap at Trumpeter Public House, pours a clear amber with a small beige head. Aroma brings out Christmas spices, bready malt and a touch of caramel. Flavour is dominated by the Christmas spices, with dry bready malt on the back. Not the most thrilling winter ale - too much spice for my taste. It’s okay.
Bottle, gifted to me. Thanks!
A: Nearly pitch black, creme colored foam, some lacing.
N: Peppercorn, rye, baker’s chocolate, some coffee, a lot of earth and leaf in here. Pine, and a bit of herbs. Char and toast.
T: Quite bitter, moderately sweet.
M: Medium body, alcohol is noticeable, fizzy carbonation.
O: This always makes me think of Claymation Christmas. Whatever the case may be, i would carol for some of this. It’s heavily bitter, but it tastes like Christmas.
From a growler. Dark brown with a reddish tinge in the light and a tan-white head that fades to a rim and coating with nice lacing. Malty, corn, light sweetness aroma. Charred malt, caramel, English bitter hop taste. Very good beer that tastes much like Northern Brewer's Caribou Slobber homebrew.
Always a solid seasonal winter beer, Wassail delivers with it’s deep dark appearance and dark creamy head. Very typical of Christmas beers at a very affordable price. You could never go wrong in serving Wassail for your holiday guests. ( and keep a few for yourself )
Aroma disappointing. Appearance red brown nice. Taste hoppy with caramel tones. Palate good Christmas flavour. Warming but given strength a disappointment. Second pint much better. Good on palate. Aroma still weak getting better.
Cask at the White Swan, Solihull. Poured a clear reddish brown witn a frothy very light tan head. The aroma is rich Rio red berry fruit. The flavour is moderate bitter with a rich over ripe fruit yeast, dry mineral palate. Medium bodied with average carbonation.
Dark brown with a light lacing. Malt, light sweetness aroma. Charred malt, caramel, light bitterness taste. Good beer
Nice dark pour with a thick white head. Feint roasted malt, nutty aroma. Tastes of roasted malt, slightly sweet and nutty with a slightly bitter finish. Very nice.
Delicious. Beer tastes great. Nice and tipsy after one 8 oz. Glass. Do drink. Now.
Nose is subtle so the toasty, nutty flavor surprises to the upside. Not overly complex. What there is the toastiness on a malt and subtle hops base in a pleasingly balanced offering. Assertive without being excessive. The only thing I don’t like is the high ABV.
Yum yum yum. My favorite from full sail! I love it! If u can't tell, it's my favorite!!!
This is a good winter ale. Aroma could be a little more interesting; however, the taste is spot on with plenty of the roasty richness you look for in an English strong. This finish is rich with a sharp bitter ending. Overall, very nice.
"good winter beer. i think this is prototypical spiced old ale, which is to say it’s quite tasty. very malty up front, but still has enough hops for a slightly bitter finish. well done."
Nice and meaty English ale, dark copper colored with small creamy beige head. Light nutty aroma, flavor is more earthy, nutty, dark malts with a small hops bite at the end. Some lingering bitterness. Would not be out of place in a British pub next to the fire....
Pours a nice dark brown with off-white head. Malt, caramel, and spice on the nose; follows onto the palate. Finishes with some roasted character.
12 oz bottle poured into a tumbler..rusty/burgundy color with thin beige head..aroma of spices,caramel, bread..tastes kinda ehhh..not sure what they were going for here..not really a winter ale IMO..ordinary at best.
12 oz bottle from Tipsy’s into a pint glass. Dark brown and clear with a thick tan head and lacing. Aroma and flavor of dark malts, spices, caramel, toffee and earthy hops. Medium body, pretty tasty overall.
[Bottle (12oz)] Pours a deep amber-red with a small lasting frothy beige head. Aroma of spices, toasted caramel malt and light vegetal notes along with dark fruit and light sugar. Fruity flavour along with spice, a bit of alcohol, bready caramel malt, dark fruit, sugar and an average bitter finish. Medium bodied. Pretty good, I enjoyed it.