Heart and Hearth Winter Ale

Review Date 8/10/2022 By John Staradumsky

New brewery alert! For me anyway. Mighty Squirrel Heart and Hearth Winter Ale is my first beer ever from the Mighty Squirrel Brewing Company of Waltham, Massachusetts. This is the location of the main brewery and taproom, but there are also taprooms at Fenway Park and Watertown, Massachusetts.

I got a can of Heart and Hearth Winter Ale as part of a post-Christmas beer run with Half Time Beverage. I drank it in early January of 2026 while watching the New England Patriots finish their regular season with a win over the Miami Dolphins. New England beer with New England football, what’s better than that?

From the label:

With crisp air, a crackling blaze, and the warmth of loved ones near, winters in New England are truly magical. It doesn't come without its challenges, however, with the frigid and at times harsh weather, but it just makes us stronger and brings us together. With Heart and Hearth, we wanted to create a winter ale that is hearty, warming, and full of love and cheer.

Brewed with a balanced array of holiday spices and local New England maple syrup, Heart and Hearth is a classic winter experience. With just the right amount of malt character, Heart and Hearth is not overly sweet and captivates the senses with cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar aromas, while dancing in tandem with flavors of dark cherry and molasses.

Mighty Squirrel Heart and Hearth Winter Ale has an alcohol content of 8.5% by volume and I paid $6.49 for my pint can from Half Time. Total Wine sells it for $16.99 a 4-pack in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. My can is stamped with some sort of freshness dating on the bottom but it is completely smooshed together and illegible.

Mighty Squirrel Heart and Hearth Winter Ale pours to a murky chestnut color with a thick fluffy tan head and a nose of dark cookie malts and cinnamon. Taking a sip the beer is medium in body, rich with chewy dark cookie malts, gently sweet molasses notes, and robust hotball cinnamon. Dark fruity plum emerges as the beer progresses, and at the last Finishes very dry with pungent spicy nutmeg and cinnamon.

Perhaps a darker, maltier and stronger take on the classic Harpoon Winter Warmer, a beer born not far at all from Mighty Squirrel.