You’d better not pout …

Whether you enjoyed today’s first snowfall of the season, or you didn’t, all the credit (or blame) goes to River City and Iron Goat.

Both just introduced their winter offerings – River City on Wednesday, and Iron Goat today – and while each is broadly within the winter warmer style, they’re very different beers indeed.

River City’s Deep Thaw (8.3 percent alcohol by volume, 39 International Bitterness Units) is based on last year’s recipe of the same name, but with the toffeeish, dark crystal malts taken down a notch.

It starts out with a pronounced caramel sweetness from midrange crystal malts, followed by some rye malt spiciness and earthy, herbal notes from U.S. Golding hops.

Last year’s fruitiness is further toned down by using a combination of cleaner, drier American ale yeast along with the brewery’ standard, fruitier English ale yeast, according to assistant brewer Todd Grove.

Iron Goat’s Belsnickel (7.5, 28) is named after the German folklore figure who visits houses just before Christmas, beating bad children with a switch so they’ll be good for Santa’s arrival (immortalized in an episode of “The Office,” above).

It’s based on the German Weihnachstbier (“Weinachten” being that language’s word for Christmas), released in the month before the holiday for shoppers in the seasonal markets.

Neither sweet nor roasty, it gets its complex maltiness from a combination of Vienna and Special B malts, the latter contributing rich, dark fruit flavors. Tettnang hops add a spicy touch.

“It’s like a gingerbread cookie, but there’s no spice,” says co-owner/brewer Paul Edminster – since spices are banned by Germany’s traditional beer purity law, the Reinheitsgebot.

It shares one similarity with Deep Thaw: Both are deceptively easy-drinking for their strength. So especially if there’s snow on the streets, be careful out there.