Garrison Winter Warmer

Jeff's sister is going to school in Nova Scotia, so when she came home over the holidays, she was kind enough to bring her brother some beer from Garrison Brewery in Halifax.

In the past, we've raved about the Martello Stout and the Baltic Porter (apparently not on the blog, though) from these guys and Jeff was hoping for more of either beer.

Instead, he got a couple of bottles of the Winter Warmer. The beer has won silver at the national and international level and the website says it's a "strong dark amber beer" that is "brewed with spices evocative of the holiday season."

Jeff isn't a fan of the winter/holiday beers, so he wasn't super stoked about it - although he is always happy to try a new beer.

But those Garrison folks sure surprised him.

"I wasn't overly excited about this beer. I was afraid it would be overly spiced - like hot apple cider full of cinnamon and nutmeg," Jeff said. "But the spiciness is restrained - the cinnamon melds quite well with the demerara sugar in the beer."