Goose Island Mild Winter:
Greetings friends hope this review finds all of you well and, if you’re here in North Texas, staying out of the blast furnace.  I figured that since this was another hot day why not trick the mind into thinking it’s cool outside by drinking a winter beer.  Yeah, yeah, I know, it doesn’t work and really, a winter beer isn’t the best thing in the high temperature of the Texas summer but it was use or lose it so, I took one for the team and here is your review of Goose Island Mild Winter.  The beer is a typical American ale that is best enjoyed with 180 days (I think I’m right on that deadline) and carries a rather pedestrian 5.6% ABV which is low middle of the pack for a winter beer.  The beer pours okay with a thin white head that dissipates rather quickly and leaves a slight lacing on the glass; the nose is mildly sweet with notes of roasted malts and grapes. The taste is heavy on the roasted malt though notes of a sweet smoke does lace on the mid and back tongue but nothing overpowering.  It’s not a bad winter beer but a little too heavy on the malts for me, I like a more balanced malt or even a low malt flavor with fruit notes rather than a sweet or smoky flavor- yeah, I’m a sucker for Shiner Cheer and it’s flavor profile and all winter beers are compared to it.