AleSmith YuleSmith (Winter) Imperial Red Ale

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

Pours copper with great red and amber hues, large off white head that billows up with mountainous peaks. Worthy of a picture. Rich caramel malts and ton of west coast hops on the nose, with undertones of tea, citrus fruit candies, toffee, and booze. First taste is of sugar covered ruby red grapefruit cubes, with a caramel / toffee malt balance. Mouth feel is medium, and clings to every surface inside your mouth, giving way to a moderately dry finish. Just enough to make you thirsty for that next sip, which brings more caramel and toffee, a touch of butter, and more citrus fruits that begin to lose their bitter edge with each sip. The further down the bottle you go, alcohol becomes more present in taste and smell, but never overpowering. Malty sweetness develops further throughout while the hops mellow out yet lose no flavor, leaving this to be one hell of a brew.

Bomber. Dark brown and filtered. Small white head. Nose of spices, hops, chocolate. Taste is sweet, a bit sticky, strong hop profile, viscous and sinewy. Chewy mouth with chocolates and caramel coming through. A really nice beer.

The pours yields a reddish copper body with wavy streaks of carbonation. A massive, foamy, cream colored head settles slowly to a thick island mound, leaving random splotches of sticky cobweb lacing behind. The aroma is what an Imperial Red should be, massively malty and hoppy. Notes of rich, toasted caramel malts and butterscotch meet an array of grassy, herbal, and citrus hops. A heavy dose of soothing cream completes the nose. Flavor start out sweet and malty up front, though the caramel and toffee quickly give way to bitter grapefruit and resinous pine. Cream once again bridges the gap between ultra-malty and ultra-hoppy, fulfilling a subservient, yet no less important role. The mouthfeel is on the heavy side of medium bodied and moderately lively. A long, bitter, citrus and grass finish lingers on the roof of the mouth. This is certainly a very fine brew, but I’ve had more accessible Imperial Red’s that are just as good, if not better (Lagunitas comes to mind).

POPPED CHERRY, My first Alesmith beer!! Pours from bomber into a tulip glass, hazy brown forming a huge off white foamy head. Aroma of hops, malts, a bit of grass and dark fruits. Flavour is full bodied, hops with caramels, malts with a massive hoppish hammer that is both smooth and bites at the same time. A wonderful DIPA, wonderful malts and hop tones prevail, an awesome American beer!

dark amber, with a huge amber head. nice lacing. aroma is apples. flavor is sweet caramel with slight bitterness. obvious alcohol warmth. excellent winter warmer.

Dec. 2005 - Beer poured a beautiful dark copper color with nice sustained head and really nice lacing. The aroma was citrusy hops. The taste was citrusy hops with sweet alcohol presence detectable. I’m not a big IPA guy, but this was a nicely made beer.

Very rich and deep flavors. A nice Winter warmer along the lines of Hibernation Ale and Avery’s Jubilation. Nice dark colors and tastes.

My first sense of this big tasting ale was the sweet aroma of a milk shake followed by hops. The dark brown ale has an interesting first taste that draws one in more and more as the thick malts collide with the tingle of hops. I tried to taste it slowly, but it was a great mouthful to savor.