AleSmith YuleSmith (Winter) Imperial Red Ale

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
San Diego, California USA

Since I am missing a local brewfest tonight I decided to break out a good one from my cellar. Nice looking reddish stuff with thick homebrew head , massive lacing that tells a history, and thickest residue I’ve seen at that. Malty, sweet (think sugar babies) plus pine forest all at once in the nose. Nice indeed. I am now enjoying the malty yet hoppy palate. Can only imagine the power of the summer version cause this stuff packs a kick. Very nice!

[1506-20080704] 1pt6floz bottle. Spicy pine resin aroma with dark heavy wood malt notes. Murky, dark brown amber body with a long-lasting foamy almond head and big white floaties. Spicy pine resin continues in the flavour with lots of heavy hops. Medium-full body. Interesting and fragrant!
(w/ jerc, manuchampions, tupalev)

Bottle: Glowing orange pour with a wispy white head that thinly covers the brew. Freshly-squeezed citrus flavor, very cleanly hopped. Velvety mouthfeel, only about medium-bitterness, but still manages a very full flavor. Delicious.

Bottle from Liquor Barn in Redding, CA. One has to wonder how the Liquor Barn in Redding gets this stuff, while I haven’t found one place that sells Alesmith in the Bay. In any case, this jewel of the warehouse was almost Belgian in taste, and great at that. The brew was a little bready with more flavors focused on holiday dark fruits. The palate was excellent from beginning to end. It was better as it warmed. I’ve gotta get the summer version.

Prety badass brew. My bottle runneth over, spilling foam all over the patio. Nevertheless, this has a huge body with lasting carbonation. Chewy malts, toasted wheaty notes and an epic amount of hops, making it a massive American variation on the winter warmer, although there are no holiday flavours, which I might’ve expected. A rock-solid brew, although it might be a bit over the top for some tastes.

Bottle from the Liqour Barn in Redding california. Poured an almost brown with a reddish hue. The hops are front loaded which give a good kick, but goes down smooth with malty goodness. Had this in the middle of summer, but I bet it would have been even better on a cold winter night. Outstanding!!

Big thanks to kegbear for this one. This is kink a cross between a double IPA and a barleywine. Pours a hazy reddish copper with huge off-white head. Big aroma of floral hops and sweet malts. Also picking up some nice caramel notes. Flavor is also big with floral hops, sweet malt, caramel, citrus and a nice alcohol burn. A nice winter warmer that I am having in the middle of July for some reason. Just delicious like the rest of the Alesmith line of brews.

22oz bottle in a trade with someone not on the site. One of my favourite breweries. Almost picked this up in Portland OR and kicked myself ever since that I didn’t. Pours a very slight hazy reddy russet with a thick beige head, that lasts and lasts thanks to the carbonation. Drunk whilst watching Australia vs New Zealand in the Tri Nations rugby. The hop aroma is lovely. Great grapefruit piney resiny. Due to the rich red fruit on the malts this balances the hop well. Reminds me of SN Celebration, but this is better. The alcohol isn’t obvious in the beer, but is on my legs. It’s a good hoppy strong ESB style beer. Enormously competent and drinkable even at 8.5%. I do like the combination of strong but balanced sticky hop. But I would definitely have this again. Not overly bitter on end. Considering the amount of hop used, I’m impressed that they never get out of hand. By the way Australia won one of the best games of rugby union that I have seen. God I love those hops.