AleSmith YuleSmith (Winter) Imperial Red Ale

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

Bottle: Excellent grapefruit aroma with some malt sneaking thru too. Pours a transparent copper with a little sediment floating around. Nice creamy white head with excellent retention. Great lacing. Some orange sweetness up front which lasts throughout the flavor with a very nice hop finish. Very well balanced. Moderate hop aftertaste. Very smooth. No real alcohol flavor is detectable. Thanks to wolhfs for this one. Just as good as Dreadnaught but gets a higher appearance score making it a 0.1 better overall score. Excellent beer. **** Had another and really think this is much better fresh. 5 months later this really got big on the citrus and even became acidic. A high 3 after a few months but a mid 4 fresh.

Thanks to Jason? This beer has an awesome aroma. Grains and hops. Citrus orange hops. The appearance is a hazy copper color with a nice white head. The flavor is nice and hoppy with a balanced caramel malt. Vanilla. The palate is good, medium bodied and slick.

From bottle courtesy of dpjuart. Smooth heavy hoppy nose, with caramel and malty sweetness. Brown sugar and light ozone, mild spicyness. Dark amber-brown, with foamy lacing off-white head. Medium-heavy body with medium carbonation. Starts sweet, caramel and brown sugar. Great hoppy flavor from start to finish, malty sweetness. Fairly complex but good balance between malt and bitter. Mild alcohol warming. Nice bitter lasting after, but not harsh.

22oz Bottle. Mix of aromas with bread, malt and most noticable Citrus. Amber body good off white head left ring of lacing around upper part of pint glass. Good citrus hop flavor blended with camamel malt and some alcohol warming. Havn’t seen this one in my area since joining rate beer glad I finally got one.

Very wintery spicy hoppy aroma. And hemain hoppy throughout. The taste is nice, thick, spicy hoppy. A great beer. Well done. No. 23.

Huge floral hop nose with some fruitiness too. Hazy dark amber color and sticky tan head. A little syrup and sweet candy-like malt base with a spiced middle. Big hop taste throughout but just amazingly strong at the end. High hop resolution with totally west coast hops. The bitterness arrives rather late and lingers...forever. Great stuff.

22 oz bottle, via moejuck. Pours a clear orangish copper colored body under a foamy one inch beige head with great retention. Patchy lacing remained. Aroma is pretty well balanced despite the big aggressive citric and piney hops. Thick candy like maltiness resides at the base. Toffee, caramel, and light alcohol as well. The flavor is alot less sweet than I expected. Alot of citrusy grapefruity hops with moderate bitterness. Nice crisp dry finish. The malt is really more crackery or toasty than anything. Slightly warming alcohol emerges on the finish. Mouthfeel is full bodied, fairly thick, and almost syrupy in texture with nice soft pinpoint carbonation. Overall, a hefty brew all around. Pretty darn good, but between the two versions I think that i side with the Summer YuleSmith.

(Originally rated in 2004 - moved during the Great Yulesmith Split Of 2006.) Dark golden-amber colour with a tan head. Rich, sweet & hoppy aroma. Warm and complex flavour of brown sugar, toffee, orangey hops & spices. Hides that 8.5% extremely & dangerously well. A fantastic beer. [Toronto Christmas Party ’04]