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AC Golden's Winterfest has been around in one form or another for years. While the 2009 model is not quite the same beer Colorado has seen from Coors in seasons past, it remains a strong choice for post-skiing nights.
What's striking about Winterfest is how ordinary it is — in a good way. The beer forgoes the apple-cider spices, heavyweight malts and mulched fruit of many winter beers in favor of a fairly straightforward lager reminiscent of Sam Adams. As the beer warms up (assuming it lasts that long), some mild sweetness and bite emerge, but even so, you'd never mistake Winterfest for a quirky homebrew. If you're one of the millions of beer drinkers more interested in hoisting a simple American lager than joining the flavor circus, this could be a big selling point.
Another is Winterfest's relative rarity: Only about 85,000 bottles were produced, and they'll only be distributed in Colorado. Each bottle is numbered and sports an appropriately wintry design, so collectors will have plenty to like. Winterfest's limited nature also matters if you're just in this for the beer: The last batch is set to expire on March 1.
But Winterfest's strength is also its downside. With all of the strange and wonderful seasonal offerings out there, it's just not remarkable enough to justify rationing. If you happen across some Winterfest, by all means give it a try. But if you miss it, you won't lose any sleep over the missed opportunity.
Winterfest is available at many Colorado restaurants and liquor stores, including Buckhorn Exchange, Rustic Tavern, Merle's, Abrusci's, Buffalo Rose and RockRest.
