The wife and I went on a little trip last week to Omaha, NE, to see our son, the Doctor. Should have been a quick little jaunt for a few days but Mother Nature decided to throw us a curve ball in the form of a giant blizzard that buried southern Minnesota, South Dakota, and Most of Iowa in a foot or so of snow. Long story short, once we arrived in Iowa City for the night (highways in and out of there were being systematically shut down), we found a Hy-Vee location selling beer. Oh yeah.

One of those beers was the Winter Shandy by Jolly Traveler. I know, shandy beers can get a bad rap and I’m normally not a huge fan of the style, though they are very thirst quenching in the hotter months. Not sure exactly why I picked it up, I blame snow blindness form the storm, but I wasn’t disappointed. A full bodied wheat beer with a lot of spices taking up most of the senses. A little orange and what apparently turns out to be pomegranate are hidden in the background.

I found it very easy to drink this seemingly heavy-for-a-shandy and wasn’t left with any overwhelming or cloying sweetness, just a little on the lips in between sips. I found myself remembering another beer made a few years ago. Though out of production (which I’m not happy about) this tasted very much like the Gingerbread Spiced Ale from Blue Moon. This one was on a mini-beer tour for Old Chicago a in 2015 and the beer was served in a glass rimmed in your choice of white chocolate or milk chocolate powder. It was awesome. And the Winter Shandy was just as good, even minus the chocolate garnish.

Probably my favorite shandy, and definitely a highly drinkable winter ale.

(p.s. Yes, I know my glass isn’t “beer clean”, so be it. Still tasted great.)