I admit I am a bit tardy on this one, but what the heck. A few weeks ago I came across Innis and Gunn’s gift pack – a labeled glass and three different beer, including two limited releases. It seemed like a good thing to try. One of the beer was their regular barrel-aged beer, which I have written about before.

But the other two were a rum cask-aged beer and a winter beer, neither of which I have tried before. So, naturally, I did.

The Winter Beer is light reddish brown with a thin white head that evaporates almost immediately. Its aroma is of caramel, raisin, some toffee, with a bit of smoke and some vanilla and scotch. The flavour follows with toffee sweetness, some musty earth, vanilla and rich raisin, grape, plum. It finishes with some cola character. I also pick up some diacetyl (a kind of butterscotch flavour and aroma), which seems to be common in I&G beer.

The Winter is richer and fuller than a regular I&G. It will divide on whether you like the original or not.

The second seasonal in the pack is their rum cask beer. This is quite different. It pours a medium brown with red hue and a thin white head. The aroma is subtle with some soft sweetness, plum and other dark fruit, and a touch of vanilla bean. Upon the pour a different beer presents itself. This beer has a brown sugar sweetness and a bit of dark malt character. It is more like a big brown ale. The rum is noticeable but fairly subdued. I would have liked more of it.

Innis & Gunn is an intriguing brewery. Their base beer is casually interesting, but less than what most cask-aged beer are. Then there are their seasonals, which try to up the ante a bit. Some work, some don’t. Regardless, they remain one of the most interesting brewers around, if for no other reason than their determination to produce only oak-aged beer.

I can’t say either of their latest seasonals knocked my socks off, but each offers a unique flavour combination you will be hard pressed to find elsewhere.