AleSmith YuleSmith (Winter) Imperial Red Ale

Deep orange-brown body, thick puffy cream head. Crisp piney, citrusy hops aroma, backed by bready malts. Toasty body, potent with citrusy, piney hops and a bitter, peppery finish. Bready. Solid, but not entering my Top 50. If an I2PA/ASA isn’t going to deliver creatively, it had better knock the presentation out of the park to reach elite status.

22 oz bomber. Pours to a deep amber color, with a thick, creamy, white head, and a good carbonation. The nose on this beer is fantastic, with big aromas of citrus and grapefruit, paired with aromas of fresh pine. The palate is firm, with good biscuit and pale malt flavors, paired with a touch of carmel malt, but this only acts as a springboad to hop flavors. Lots of good citrus and grapefuit flavors and bitterness dance over the tongue. This beer finishes with more really great malt and hop flavors, then ends with a big, zesty, pungent lemon and grapefruit bitterness that lingers. This beer is an IPA all the way. I don’t care if they tossed in a little more malt, hops dominate this beer in a big way, and it is a wonderful thing. This beer makes a phenomenal aperitif, and a great hop coctail of a brew to sip and relax with. Very impressive.

Bottle acquired at Jungle Jims - Pours dark reddish amber with a mostly receding light tan head. Aroma of sweet citrus, grapefruit, and resinous toffee. Taste is extremely hoppy, with the typical grapefruit and pine resins. Notes of spicy citrus, sweet toffee, and moderately acidic. Mouthfeel is full bodied, resinous with lively carbonation. I hate to generalize, but these west coast Strong Ales all taste so similar. 8-10% with a crapton of C hops. That basically describes this beer, Arrogant Bastard, and nearly every beer made by Lagunitas. I enjoy them, but I can’t rave about them.

This brew pours a rich robust red with a thick white rocky head, which releases an abundant hop aroma. The initial flavor though is all malt sweetness...roasted caramel, dried fruits, and hints of molasses and brown sugar. The hops are pretty potently pine and grapefruit and really get more resiny as it warms. I actually found the alcohol pretty well concealed...certainly THERE, but not in-your-face about it. A quality product, by all means, but not the opus magnus I’ve been expecting.

650ml bomber from the brewer. This is the 2006 winter yulesmith. Pours a cloudy reddish dark brown, with a huge khaki head that lasts forever. The head stands up like thick like a meringue, very nice. The aroma is strong with sweet caramel, anise and hops. Flavor is complex and loaded with chocolate, coffee, black licorice, pine, cedar and walnuts. The hops are well defined and prominent throughout the experience. The palate is full and satisfying. The finish is long with lingering bittersweet dark chocolate. This is a a great brew. Recommended.

22 oz. bomber. Pours a cloudy dark amber with a moderate yellow/white head that lasted through most of the glass and left partial lacing. Very nice aroma of citrus and pine along with a bit of sweet malt. The flavors are strong too with citrus, pine, brown sugar and malt all present. It just doesn’t seem to come quite together though. There’s also a noticeable alcohol burn which intereferes a bit with the flavor. Dry, hoppy finish.

Bottle from Julios Liqours in MASS. Sampled with Dennis Bell. Orange pour with thin head with a hop, citrus and caramel aroma. Sweet malt taste with hints of fruit and caramel that were blended to perfection. Absolutley awesome. The cerimonial hump of the bottle was done.

22oz bottle, consumed 9/23/07. Pours a very nice deep amber color, light tan foam, great retention and lacing. Aroma is slightly hoppy with a very noticeable oxidized character. Flavor continues with the oxidation, a bit too much for a beer under a year old and almost 10%abv, there’s some hop and malt in there but the overriding "old" flavor is too much for me. Thanks to footbalm for the bottle!