AleSmith YuleSmith (Winter) Imperial Red Ale

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

Rerate (2004 Summer Release): Same Yulesmith I remember...wonderfully balanced. Great head retention and carbonation. It's a little young...Glad I bought a case of this! Original Rating: 2003 (looks like I'm the first to rate this vintage): Bought directly from the brewery on Oct 20th. Color is a wonderful radiant deep orange with a medium sized off-white head. It almost glows! Aroma is heavy citrus, and pine with interesting floral notes...everything you could want in an IPA. Wow, does this taste excellent. At first you are hit with tons of hops, grapefruit and piney, then it mellows out perfectly when swallowed. Nice malty, alcoholic finish. The body is surprisingly creamy and full, with a dry finish. This is my first Yulesmith experience but I find it difficult to believe any of the other vintages could be better. Truely a great beer!

Here is a beer that far exceeded my expectations, as the style American Strong Ale is kind of vague. Pours a rich copper brown colour, with a huge rocky head that could not be avoided. The key here is balance, I have yet to try a beer that does a finer job in balancing the malts and hops, just masterful. Very easy drinking I could not detect the high alcohol and would drink this all the time if I could...very nicely done by Alesmith.

Bottle. Well, this is the top rated beer for me. Perfect aromas of moderate straw and roasted for the malts, heavy to harsh smells of perfume, pine (juniper) and orange for the hops, light notes of leather and broth for the yeast, with raspberry in the background. Head is large and frothy, off-white with excellent lacing and is mostly diminishing. Color is hazy red/brown. Flavor starts moderatetly sweet and acidic, then finishes moderately sweet, acidic and bitter. Palate is medium bodied, creamy textured and it has a carbonation between lively and soft. It finishes lightly astringent. I’ve never experienced such a complex yet balanced hop character from any beer. The pine smell reminded me of the woods I was hunting in a day ago.

This was absolutely amazing. Picked up in a trade with Corby112. Slightly cloudy amber color with a thin off white head. Really sweet, fruity smell, a lot of darker fruit aroma. Tasted a lot of what I smelled, sweet malts and dark fruit flavors. Very delicious. A little bit syrupy towards the end but very drinkable. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more of this.

The best beer I’ve had to date. My bottle was aged one year.Has a hazy, dark-amber appearance. Aroma is extra malty with a little bit of hops. Taste is full of hops and malts, so much so that the dry, smooth finish comes as a surprise. This is not overbearing just sensational.

22 oz. bottle from Jungle Jim’s. Muddy reddish-brown pour with a creamy off-white head. Big hop aroma of grapefruit, tangerines, and apricot. Flavor does not disappoint; big, bitter hops balanced with some toffee sweetness. Having sampled this in late summer to early fall this is at least 10 months old. At this point it is very close to barley wine territory. It’s an outstanding beer (does this brewery make bad beers?). Would love to try this fresh but the bottle I had was incredible.

Sweet hoppy malty red ale. Pours with redish pink head. Full round and sweet this beer is a touchdown.

07 version: OMFG this is a holy grail beer, after trying the summer version, how could it get any better, but I find this another blowout... there is nutin but gold here... aromas, incredible fresh hops, some sweet and roasted malts, high depth... appearance, what can you say? It is perfect, huge fluffy head that just lays there forever, lacing, my whole glass is covered with the caked on beige bubbles... flavor, fogetaboutit.. it is outstandingly strong hops and roasted malts, some chocolate, some caramel, it is complete, palate is the only fall back since the alcohol sneaks through a little and packs a hawaiin punch... overall, out-freakin-stounding.