AleSmith YuleSmith (Winter) Imperial Red Ale

Huge thanks to Kryptic for this gem. Very enticing aroma. Spicy, citrusy hops. Tantalizing sweet (but in no way cloying) malt. Some caramel sweetness, but delicate. Very well balanced. Pours firey copper with a big, sticky, creamy llight khaki head. Excellent retention and lacing. Flavor profile matches the aroma. Spicy hops expertly interwoven with sweet toffee malt. Wonderfully balanced. Creamy on the tongue. Mostly full bodied. Finishes with a zesty, spicy hoppiness. Really wonderful stuff!

i think there is a pattern of alesmith beers, they all seem to be great! I detected a nutmeg aftertaste, almost like eggnog, it was wonderful. Very smooth, great color.

22 oz Bottle: Pours a clear dark copper with a smaller light tan head. This bottle is surely a ’06 or older. Hopefully someday they will vintage date the Yulesmith bottles. Aromas of sweet and malty, citrus and pine. Caramel, raisin and figs dominate the taste with a bitterness on the finish showing some bitterness but I think it’s reduced by the age. The mouthfeel is very nice for the style. It coats my tongue but doesn’t leave an bad aftertaste. I would like to try this side by side with the 07 Winter. But I can’t complain because this is a very good beer that I’ll be happy to have again.

22. Gotta be an 06 bottle, if not older. Thanks, Foolish Mortal! (I think. Dang short term memory). Pours a monolithically solid wall of brown with delectable rubied highlights. Thick, moussy, almost fluffy head with thick walls of lace down the sides of the glass. Dense, sweet nose of caramel, nougat, pine, and light tropical fruits. Unsettlingly enough, you really can’t tell where the hops stop and the malt begins on the nose. Thick, grainy, soft body. Just an awesome velvet wash of grain. Thick caramel, pine, and tropical tree fruit on the mid-palate, along with the faintest early blossoms of leather and tobacco. Clean brown bread finish. Nice stuff, very complex. Thinking it would be best poured straight from the teat, but it has many charms even at this modestly advanced age.

Bottle. This one is a new 2007, marked 8.5% abv on the bottle. Pours a medium to darker brown with thin tan head. Aroma on this is lightly malty and heavily hoppy, with pine, spruce, resin. Flavor is on the hoppy side with only light bitterness due to a big sweeter maltiness underneath. Some caramel but not too much, some raisin and fig, but lightly, some breadiness. Bitterness comes the way of grapefruit and some faint citrus accents. Tastes like a normal west coast ipa with a fat dose of crystal malt. It’s good. Alesmith does good on all their brews and this is no exception. I might get around to rating them instead of drinking them one day.

Cloudy copper-apricot color; amber, thick head that hangs on nicely for a long time. Slight carob and caramel malt aroma. Very rich, full body, sweet amber malts, significant dark malt and hop bitterness, caramel, nutmeg, rosemary, hazelnut, bitter and milk chocolate, white grapefruit rind hop bitterness...I can tell the alcohol is there but it’s too yummy to care. I’m not sure the age of this...it was marked down from $5.59 to $3.99...I’d say some of the hops have lost their strength leaving more malt sweetness. I’ve had the Winter a few times before over the years and the hop bitterness varies slightly. Fresh or aged it’s lovely!

bottle. pours a mostly clear amber with occasional floaters and a big fluffy off-white head that takes forever to fade, and laces well throughout. spicy citrus floral hops with a bready malt (note on rerate: HUGE citrus flavor, dominated by grapefruit and especially pineapple). big caramel and bready malts in the flavor, with some fruity esters and obviously a big hop flavor (more floral and piney than the nose) (more rerate notes: a lot more pineapple and grapefruit noticeable in the taste, too). a bit of alcohol as well. big well balanced finish with a medium to full body and a good creamy mouthfeel, with a bunch of carbonation. i like the summer better, but this is definitely a tasty and very interesting offering.

his is quite comparable to the summer version, a bit more balaced, distinct red character coming through in the sweetness and body. decent.