A warm welcome. That’s an image that goes hand in hand with the holiday season. It evokes “over the river and through the woods” kind of imagery, though my grandmother’s house never had any craft beer in it.

So, for Day 11 of the Growler Fills 12 Days of Christmas Cheer we popped open Ridgeway Brewing’s Warm Welcome Nut Browned Ale. Yeah, we reviewed too many Ridgeway beers for this 12 day project, but I’d grabbed a bunch of holiday themed beers without paying attention to what brewery they were from.  Hey, marketing works when you’re not paying too close attention.

Warm Welcome (6% abv) is more orangish than brown in color and has an off-white head.  There are aromas of caramel and biscuit malts. The flavors consist of a pretty traditional caramel malt base with some nutty undertones and a touch of hop bitterness in the finish. There’s a bit more depth of flavor to this nut brown ale than many.  I did rather enjoy this one and it tastes quite a bit better than it looks.

Truth be told, the color is within the BJCP style guidelines for a Northern English Brown Ale, but still.