New Belgium Snow Day
With three feet of powder closing the roads, a brewery is not a bad place to get snowed in. Given the unanticipated hall pass of a snow day, our brewers decided to experiment. Hmm…what about this dark caramel roasted Midnight Wheat braced with a serious load of Styrian Goldings, Centennial and Cascade hops? Shovel it in. What a deliciously unexpected way to spend a SNOW DAY!
3.5
525 reviews
Fort Collins, United States
Community reviews
Wow does midnight wheat know how to smooth a palate out and give a light creamy feel to it! Great aroma of pine, citrus, grapefruit, roasted malts, light cocoa and a hint of chocolate... Same taste with an exceptionally smooth finish and bitterness. Complex yet simple, smooth and enjoyable.
On tap at the brewery. Black appearance with a khaki colored head and sticky lacing. Aroma of dark nutty malts, roasted grain, cocoa, light coffee, earthy hops and hints of grass and pine. Mild malt sweetness balanced by a mild to moderate hop bitterness. Medium body with a lingering finish. Wow, I don’t remember this one tasting so good!
Draft at the brewery. Pours opaque dark brown with a fizzy, bubbly beige head and lots of lacing. Tastes like nutty malt, dark chocolate, burnt toast, and roasted coffee. Light/medium body and low carbonation. Smells like roasted malt, coffee, burnt toast, and nutty.
New Belgium Snow Day drinks like a porter with the body and notes to match. Dark pour with a thick, tan, frothy head. Aroma is of chocolate and caramel. Taste is much like a porter with chocolate and caramel (to a lesser extent) notes. Snow Day can be enjoyed on any day -- a nice seasonal.
Bottle. Pours black with ruby highlights. Some tan head and lacing. Nose is floral hops and some chocolate. Taste is similar with some roast coffee. Lasting bitterness in the aftertaste.
Lots of pine and that's about the whole aroma. Pours very dark almost black with some ruby redness. Not as hoppy as the aroma would suggest. Still lots of pine. Some roasty toast flavors. A hint of earthiness. Not bad.
Poured from bottle into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a deep cola brown color with mahogany highlights shinning trough and a one finger tan colored head. The head has a great level of retention, very slowly fading over time to leave a great level of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma of the beer is potent of a nice roasted malt aroma with some light chocolate and caramel. Along with these aromas comes a decent showing of an herbal and pine hop along with some leather aromas.
Taste – The taste begins with a toasted malt flavor with hints of chocolate and caramel. These later flavors are light upfront, with them fading more and more as the taste moves forward. The roast increases even more toward the middle of the taste with it then maintaining its strength to the end. Near the very end, some roasted coffee bitterness comes to the tongue, and with the drying out of most of the sweet flavors and a bit of an earthy taste coming to the tongue, one is left with a roasty and slightly dry and bitter taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel- The body of the beer is on the slightly thinner to average side for a beer of its darkness and abv., with a carbonation level that is average to slightly higher. For the more bitter and roast flavors of the brew the feel is great as it makes for a more refreshing and surprisingly more crisp dark brew.
Overall- I rather enjoyed this one. A rather nice black IPA with a great level of approachability and easy drinking feel. A rather nice drinker!!
12oz bottle...silky black pour with little head. Not much aroma, but a good velvety mouthfeel of fresh roasted coffee. Surprisingly little hop flavors despite the marketing. Smooth and drinkable.
12 oz. bottle. From notes 1-11-15. Very dark pour into pint glass. Tan creamy head. Hoppy, bitter and roast taste. Not one of my favorite New Belgiums.
Old rating. Strange winter beer as I remember. Coffee, pine, spices, some roastiness. Decent enough.
This is a very dark beer that is good on cold nights. Has a distinct coffee taste. Good aroma and a creamy head. Nice palate with great overall taste. This is a beer you should take with you when you go sledding.
Bottle. Pours a deep dark amber brown with a short off-white head. Aroma of roasted malts, pine and citrus. Flavor was mellow with roasted malts, pine, citrus, chocolate and caramel.
12oz bottle -
Aroma - medium piney hop punch, chocolate graham crackers, very light roast notes
Appearance - dark mahogany brown body, mostly clear with a 2-finger tan head, medium head retentio, light lacing
Mouthfeel - medium carbonation, medium bodied
Flavor - medium sweetness, notes of grapefruits and chocolate malts, nicely balanced
Overall - after several recent misses from NB, this was very nice. Priced well and tasty. There are better black ales out there though.
"more on the black side than the ipa side, if that makes any sense. like a robust porter or light stout with some pine and citrusy hops thrown in the mix. lots of roasted malt and a little chocolate, light-medium body, smooth. easy drinking nice new seasonal."
Pours a very dark brown color with khaki head. Spice, roasted malt, and a little hop grassiness on the nose; follows onto the palate. Very nice winter beer.
[Bottle] Very dark pour reminiscent of cola. Spicy hop aroma is herbal in nature. Also quite a bit of anise in the nose. Taste is similar, with spicy hops and dark roasted malt backbone. Piney bitterness rounds out the finish. Tasting notes from 11/2011.
Rated on 11-14-2011 (Bottle) This beer’s appearance is a medium sized fizzy beige head, dark brown transparent body, fizzy, fast rising carbonation, and a generous amount of lacing. The aroma is caramel, roasted malt, pine and grapefruit hops. The taste is mildly bitter, caramel, roasted malt, pine hops, and a semi-dry finish. The mouthfeel is softly carbonated and this beer is light-medium bodied. Overall, this beer has a nice hoppy aroma and flavor, worth trying and a beer I would drink again.
From notes. Roasted malts, dark chocolate, bitter hops. Decent winter beer.
My first experience with an American Black Ale. Enjoyed the mix of hoppy and roasty flavors.
Well as I sit here enjoying a five day weekend courtesy of some unusually snowy weather in SC, I’m thinking back to how much I enjoyed this brew last winter and how I wish I had some now. From what I recall this was a deep brown almost black beer with some tan head, and a very enjoyable roasty and hoppy aroma. The taste was very bitter from a variety of strong hop flavors, but also allowed for the heavily roasted dark malt flavor to come through. Enjoyed the complexity and was refreshing for the winter season. Definitely was beyond my usual bitterness threshold, yet I really appreciated this brew, hope to find this one again sometime. ---Rated via Beer Buddy
New Belgium has proven to be decidedly eclectic in their creations. In fact, some of the resulting concoctions have defied categorization. Snow Day is one such beer. It baffles your palate. Is this a Black IPA with its roasted malts and big, bitter helping of hops? Is it a Black Ale with its light, low-carbonation body and midnight color? Or is it just another seasonal beer that can enjoy the catch-all title of Winter Warmer? Beats the shit out of me. But I don’t mind. Snow Day is a complex brew that is full of flavor and bite. Easily one of my favorite winter ales.
(Backlog) Brownish, dark color, light tan head. The smell is hops, fruits, pine, citrus, and roast. The taste is roasty, pine, citrus, pine, cocoa, and some bitterness.
Bottle. Found this lost in the backlog; enjoyed 2/16/13. Dark brown pour with a modest beige head. Roasty nose, cocoa, and piney. The citrus and floral hops come through as dominant in the flavor, but still a fair amount of roast/toasted malt. Light cocoa. Good stuff.
Found this in the cellar today - best by date was 12 Apr 2012! Poured from bottle to glass - thick 4 finger head that was light tan in color setting on top of a dark, with hints of red, liquid. Hops are apparent, especially the Goldings, and an undertone of wheat/bread. Tastes like a mix between a pale ale and a porter, but with hints of wheat underneath. Still very pleasant to drink, even though well past it’s best by date!
Best by: 23FEB12
A: black with a finger off toasted cream head which falls quickly to a sheet of the same. sheet lace.
S: Spicy hops and toasted malts. Smells like an ABA. Some hints of burnt raisins. Me like.
T: Sharply bitter with a spicy tone over a nice toasted, dark malt profile. Good stuff.
M: medium bodied with slightly hi carb and a little to wet for my preference in this one.
O: This is the first beer in quite some time I’ve purchased and consumed over and over. I like it.
Serving type: bottle
11-16-2011
I had this at Global Brew. Pours dark brown with a tan head. Taste Carmel, chocolate, sweet. I thought this was good. I would drink this again.
It’s like a brown ipa. Dark brown color with hints of red. Tall tan head that lingers and sticks to the glass. Aroma is sweet,cocoa and hops. A great mix of hops and malts that will not let you down.
Bottle: looks completely black upon pouring, but holding to the light reveals some deep ruby highlights. Beige-ish head with great retention, leaving a huge web of lacing all around. Aroma includes heavy cocoa & chocolate, a bit of roasted malt, & a wet, dripping dank note from the hops. Kind of herbal & maybe slightly citric, too. Taste starts off with some stale cocoa malt & a touch of ashiness with a floral, slightly dank & oily hop presence over top. Slight green, earthy, & onion-y notes hidden. Mildly bitter finish with a faint staleness about it. Citric bit grows with warmth but is still balanced by roasted, chocolate malts.
From Beerilicious iphone app: caramel and roast. not a huge fan of it. I would skip in the future
December 2011. From bottle. Pours dark brown with a tan head. Aromas of dark roasted malt, citrus, caramel. Good balance. Bitter hops on the finish. Not bad at all.