Pyramid Snow Cap Ale
Winter Warmer. A rich, full-bodied winter warmer crafted in the British tradition of holiday beers. This deep mahogany colored brew balances complex fruit flavors with a refreshingly smooth texture.
Malts:
2-Row Pale Barley, Caramel 80L, Chocolate
Hops:
Nugget, Willamette, East Kent Goldings
OG: 17.3
Malts:
2-Row Pale Barley, Caramel 80L, Chocolate
Hops:
Nugget, Willamette, East Kent Goldings
OG: 17.3
3.3
835 reviews
Seattle, United States
Community reviews
Pours a dark amber with two fingers of creamy head. Flavor is malty and slightly sweet. Not many spices which is good. Balanced flavor overall. Nice beer.
Bottle poured a clear deep reddish brown hue w/ huge long lasting foamy beige head and broken lacing. Moderate roasty malty spicy aroma. Initial flavor is moderate sweet w/ a moderate bitter finish. Tastes are roasted malts, pine, and spices. Medium bodied, watery mouthfeel, and a lasting resin finish.
Poured from 12 oz bottle into nonic glass.
Appearance: Pours a frothy off white head that recedes very slowly with lots of lacing. Color is reddish brown with some streaming carbonation evident.
Aroma: malt dominates, very bready with some caramel and chocolate, also some earthy hops.
Mouthfeel: medium bodied, oily texture with a somewhat dry finish.
Flavor: bready malt, raisin, plums, caramel, a bit of dark chocolate melds with earthy and citrus hops.
Overall: very pleasant winter warmer. Enjoyed this sipper.
Thanks to Ken for the 12oz. bottle - Aroma of toasted malts with hnts of dark fruit. A maghogny pour supporting a thin, non-lasting off1-white head and limited lacing. On the palate, there is a sudden dark fruit sweetness, followed by a roasty presence ending in a pleasing bitter finish and aftertaste. Nice balance of the tastes offered by the malts and hops. Mediums body and medium carbonatin. Overall, I am very pleased. When I heard it was a winter warmer, I envisioned something overly sweeet and spicy. Glad I was mistaken.
Yummmmmm! Great winter ale from Pyramid. One if my favorites! Worth a try!
I liked it a lot. Malty and chocolate were the things that stood out to me. Very solid seasonal beer.
Had off tap at the brewery. Aroma of sweaty socks. Copper to dark brown. Candied brown sugar middle and finishes sweet and slightly dry. Not a huge alc presence, very much like a brown ale.
12 oz bottle. Pours brown with tall, long lasting, fluffy off-white head. Aroma is of herbal, piney hops, spices, dark fruit, brown sugar, coffee and caramel malt. Body is full and tangy. Taste is similar to aroma. Finish is long and dry. It was a perfect brew to drink after shoveling snow.
Brown color, big Brown head. Aroma Is spice, brown sugar. Thick feel. Taste is spicy,warm,malty. Not Bad.
Go Hawks.
From bottle. Pours a dark red with a touch of beige head. Quite a bit of carbonation. Muted nose with bits of roasted malts. Some bright piney hoppiness up front, giving way to a chocolate finish. Good kick. Solid winter seasonal.
My January 2014 review: Pours a read brown with a pretty white head that dissipates into film. Aroma is simple and unappealing: caramel, grass, and dough. Palate is worse... heartburn city. Did not enjoy. Won’t buy again. Will not drink again.
My December 2014 review: What a difference a year makes. Rated a 2.5 last time I tried it. THIS beer pours a deep amber/brown with a nice off white head. Aroma: caramel, cereal, floral, dough, and a little bit of cooked vegetables. Taste is slightly off balance towards sweet. Palate is nice with some sticky. Quite an improvement.
11/15/2011. From bottle. Dark brown with a tan head. Roasted malt aromas with caramel, spices and dark fruit. Very nice for a cold day. Good seasonal.
Deep dark chocolate malt on the palate with hints of coffee. Very warming with alcohol only mild bitterness kind of sweet and bitter at the same time like dark chocolate. A little bit of toffee notes as well.
From bottle to glass. Massively over-carbonated on the pour! Caramel, dark fruit and wet cardboard aromas. Clear chestnut with massive taupe head. Poured like a gusher and took minutes to settle down. Deep fruit and malty sweet flavors with some slight oxidation. Some complexity in the flavor profile but it was hard to get passed the pour. As it warmed, it really took on an infected taste and i kept reducing the score throughout the pour.
650ml brown bottle. Reddish brown in the glass, full beige head with a creamy bead on top. Plentiful sticky lace. Malty nose, caramel toffee and chocolate and grain. Taste has toffee malts with a bit of roast and dark chocolate. Mild finishing bitterness. Drinks pretty easily, a typical English winter warmer.
Bottle. Spicy Aroma. Taste is bitter, spicy, and dry. Nothing special, but certainly drinkable.
Bottle. Pours a brown color with a small off white head. The aroma and flavor have caramel and toffee, some bread, dark dried fruits, with mild spices. Smooth texture and surprisingly not too bad.
I poured a 12oz bottle into a nonic pint glass. It had an enjoy by date of 2/25/14 and cost $2.50 ($0.21 per ounce).
Appearance: As advertise - a beautiful shade of deep, clear mahogany. Plenty of carbonation visible. Pours to an average-sized, ivory, frothy head which laces and retains excellently.
Smell: Fairly muted nose with hints of dark amber and chocolate malts.
Taste: Pyramid claims "Snow Cap" is a winter warmer, though it’s overtly lacking in spices you usually find in the style. It’s probably more accurately labeled as an English Strong Ale as it does have the basic characteristics of that style. Light notes of chocolate and toffee as well as a certain je na se quois factor of English well water brews (i.e. Samuel Smith’s). Not much in the way of bitterness or hop flavor, though. The palette here is surprisingly mild considering what it’s marketed as being. There’s a slight tanginess on the finish you often find in macro-brewed quasi-craft beers such as this. The taste is inoffensive and drinker-friendly, just not drinker-impressive.
Drinkability: I was quite surprised to see that Pyramid Snow Cap weighed in at 7% ABV. On one hand this is good since it makes it highly drinkable with its flat, thin mouthfeel and smooth, clean finish. On the other hand it’s disappointing that a brew this big is this mild and simplistic. A good beer for newbies, but veteran drinkers may be left unimpressed.
Awesome Xmas red color, but a weirdly spicy soapy flavor. Would be better with more carbonation.
On tap @ Porkys Pizza Palace. Amber pour with a small off-white head. Nose is sweet and cola-like. Nuts, caramel, toffee, and some dark fruits. Flavor is quite sweet as well. Lots of cola, nuts, caramel, and toffee. Kind of a weird iron flavor to it. Meh.
650ml bottle pours amber in color with a finger and a half of white head that leaves a few spots of lacing on the glass. Aroma is spices and herbs with a hint of caramel. Taste is a caramel malty sweetness with a herbal hop bitterness and some spicy finish. Medium bodied with adequate carbonation. An interesting brew for the style and definitely worth a try.
Bread, toffee, dark fruit aromas, pours a deep mahgony with dense head and great lacing. Rich complex and smooth not overly sweet with good mouthfeel, excellant malt balance.
Very enjoyable and smooth. Not too hoppy at all but nice dark fruit, malt and nut characteristics.
Pours a dark red with minimal head. The head disappears quickly but leaves good lacing. Aroma is of dark malts, dark fruits, and minimal hops. Tastes smooth, with a fruity malt flavor. You can taste a little heat from the alcohol on the finish. Overall, it's a good beer that I would buy again!
Bottle 0.355l from local market at San Francisco. Colour is brown with small head. Aromas and flavours: Chocolate, spices and roasted malts.
Pours dark brown with light beige foamy head. Smoky aroma ,peat, wood barrel, burnt toast. Taste is roast grains,molasses and peat with very little hop bitterness.Dark and brooding, but very drinkable.
Cannot believed I have not reviewed this one... Picked up at the COOP tonight... Pours a clear dark/darker mahogany.. short lived dark tan head... spotty lacing.
Nose is dark toast and some dark pit fruit... a bit of plum/red grape.. hints of cocoa.
Flavor mirrors the nose with a decent punch of piney hops.. okay.. but underwhelming.
Medium/full body but balanced by a slightly bigger than expected carbonation.... Glad I only bought one.. this used to be a go-to for me every winter, but it seems to have definitely lost it’s shine in my eye.
Growler from the brewery in Seattle. Pours reddish brown with thick creamy light mocha head. Aroma is sweet toffee and oaky malt. Taste is thin dark caramel malt with restrained sweetness. Mild earthy bitterness. Big flavor relative to somewhat thin body. Doesn’t seem like 7%. Smooth, easy finish. Easily one of Pyramid’s best beers and one of the better winter warmers. Super Snow Cap has more of everything, and is a personal favorite, but this is plenty tasty.
A: Dark Amber/Brownish Hue, Passes Some Light, Off White Head, Great Lacing
S: Mild Caramel Malts, Bready, Mild Hoppiness
T: Bittter Hoppiness, Caramel Malts, Bready, Bubblegum
M: Good Carbonation, Medium Bodied, Malty, Bitter
Overall, a decent malty, bitter warmer with some good hearty taste.
Serving type: bottle
Appearance- Dark Ruby Brown with quick disappearing tan head that left a little bit on top of the beer sticky lacing.
Aroma- A some what sweet malty spice aroma
T/P - A spicy sweet taste initial very warming which I like. Left a slight hop bitter after taste which for me somewhat detracts from the beer. Mouth fell is very welcoming except for the aftertaste.
Overall- Not the best winter brew out there a little too bitter at the end ruins the whole beer for me
Serving type: bottle