AleSmith YuleSmith (Winter) Imperial Red Ale

22 oz bottle, multiple times over a couple years. Overall, the experience I’ve had with this brew has been a good one. Tons of sweet malts back up a strong hoppy presence of a beer. Lots of fruity characteristics flush the malts. Caramel flavors, as well as the usual resiny and piny notes help make this one. Overall, I’ve had AMAZING fresh and aged bottles of this, but I’ve also had somewhat poor fresh and aged bottles...so it just depends! If you find a good one - you’ll be stoked!

22 oz. bottle. Pours a slightly hazy copper color with a large foamy beige head. The aroma is sweet caramel malt, citrus hops, and pine. The flavor is a wonderful mix of the chewy sweet caramel along with the citrus and pine hop flavors. The finish is bitter and long lasting. The 9.5 % is not noticeable in the beer at all which makes this one dangerous, as it is so easy to drink. I’m glad AleSmith sends their love to Ohio.

Pours a five-finger cream head that fades very slowly leaving a good lace. Cloudy amber color. Medium carbonation and medium-heavy bodied. Malty/alcohol nose. Flavor is tart raisins, caramel and some alcohol. Nice holiday ale. Yeast settles out in glass. $4.70 for a 22 oz bottle from Colonial Spirits Acton, Ma. Label has ABV at 8.5%.

Bottle. 2/8/08. Floral hop aroma with some citric and piney notes. Some sweetness and crystal maltiness in nose as well. Yeasty, with very slight burnt rubber autolysis odor. Faint whiff of alcohol. Poured with a huge tan head with very long retention (bottle may have referemented and sat on yeast too long). Copper/amber color, silight haze. Abundant, very fine, carbonation coming up from bottom of glass. Flavor: nice blend of bitterness, malt (medium crystal malts and sweetness), piney hops, and alcohol. Similar aftertaste. Rich, creamy mouthfeel. Medium-full body. Medium-full carbonation. Nice alcohol warmth in finish.

I think this bottle was not well-kept. Despite that, it held up really well and still tasted excellent. Will rerate next year with a fresher bottle and I’m sure my score will go up.

Appearance: Pours a clear, reddish-amber body with a fizzy, off-white head. Smell: Hardy aroma of caramel malts and succulent, juicy hop fruitiness with full notes of orange, grapefruit, pineapple, and apricots. Taste: Rich, thick caramel malts with an energizing jolt of sweetness. Tropical, citrusy hop flavors with a burst of bitterness to match all that malty sweetness. Finishes bittersweet, with a touch of spicy alcohol showing. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Slight stickiness to the mouthfeel. Drinkability: Crammed with plenty of malt, hops, and booze, but it was an ease to drink.

My Bottom Line:
Toasted caramel malts churn a tooth-licking maple butter sweetness which achieves equilibrium with the multifaceted citrusy hops and their cedary, resinous bitterness. Goodness gracious, these guys are talented.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-An immense foam discharge setttles into a monument of a head atop the kaleidoscopic dark amber.
-That foam is a tad overzealous, but it is a hophead’s delight when tasted.
-That toffee candy/caramel maltiness is endless yet is far from cloying.
-Effervescence is a little too expansive for my tastes; I’d like to have the leisure the appreciate the well-endowed maltiness.
-This is very drinkable for its size; alcohol barely heats up the back end.
-Aroma is as complex and enticing as the flavor profile is delicious; West Coast glory personified.

Bottle.

Amber colored with a huge rocky head that sticks around. Strong smell is balanced with caramel and bready malts and a fruity hops. Medium bodied. Taste is a good mesh of lightly sweet malts and bittersweet fruity hops. Nicely done. 012206

Thanks Harry. Wonderful ruby-red-brown colour! Fine head with a brown eggshell colour. WOW!!!!!! HOP BOMB!"!!!! Spice/fruit/amazing sweet body with a pepper sweet finish. Another fine beer from Alesmith.