Barrel House RedLegg Ale

A nice red-copper color with a white head. Bright fruits, malty, a bit of roast, and some caramel in the aroma. Flavor is fruity and sour. Not much in the way of hops but full of caramel malts. Some lemon and cherry as well. I’m not a fan.

Overall pretty boring for a red. Not much flavor. Simple caramel malts with a touch of odd spice and rotten grain and old hops.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy copper with a medium off-white head. Aroma of barley malt, hops, caramel, a little fruit. Malty flavor with hops, roast, fruit, and toast. Smooth, with a light-medium body. Almost no aftertaste. Nice overall, but the malt tends to dominate the nose and palate.

This did not taste anything like the description provided by Ratebeer, but I did notice a lot of the things other reviewers did. Dark amber pour with a nice head, and ring lacing on the glass. Malty aroma with some skank (what causes that - is it corn?). Taste is surprisingly sharp and sour - a lot of vinegar / lemon / cherry and not much hop flavor. The slightly bitter and yeasty finish makes this a little too close to vomit for comfort. There does not appear to be any fruit added. This might be acceptable if you like very sour beer, but it seems likely that the bottle I had came from a contaminated batch. I think Red Legg needs a little work. How about putting a freshness date on the bottle, or providing an explanation for the sour taste? This was my first bottle from Barrel House, and I am not rushing out to find more.

Amber with an overactive a large beige head that takes up most of the glass. Aroma of caramel malt, light fruit and a touch of hops. Taste is of heavy caramel, plenty of malt, some it a bit smoked. Not much in the way of hops but overall for the 99 cents I paid for the bomber not too bad.

Bottle. Pours a red body with a tan heavy head. Sour cherry and vinegar notes, sweet caramel and an earthy moth bitterness. Not a good infection, oh well.

Like other reviewers, I noted a sour characteristic. Unlike some other brewers, I found this flavor to be revolting, along with several other characteristics of this beer, such as it’s appearance. I would suspect that this bottle was old, but I bought it in Ohio, not that far from Cincinnatti, the bottle looked to be in good condition, and other reviewers have noted the same characteristics. In addition, this bottle had no date code, so I’m left to assume that it is fresh from the brewery and should be rated as such. Let me spell out the source of my objections about this beer: Appearance - looked like a hazy iced tea. Very little head, weird inconsistent haze in the glass. No floaties, but when that’s the nicest thing you can say about a beer... Aroma - is sour...maybe apples? It had almost a Berlinerweisse characteristic that totally didn’t belong in this beer. Flavor - is pretty awful. More sourness backed by some grainy maltiness. Maybe a heavy dose of isoamyl acetate thrown in? This stuff is pretty rancid. Palate - when appearance, aroma, and flavor stinks, who cares about mouthfeel? This stuff could feel like a Swedish massage, but the way it tastes, I still wouldn’t drink it. This beer is pretty awful. Weird fruity sour notes in a red/amber ale? Awful weird appearance? Equals drain pour in my book. I picked it up because it was an inexpensive bomber from a brewer I was unfamiliar with. WIth this beer as my first contact, I will not be seeking out the Barrel House for any other beers in the future.

Couldn’t finish the bottle. Disgusting acidic sour vinegar taste. Probably a bacterial infection. I’d say I should get another one to really give it a try, but other reviews below have noted a sour taste as well. Looks like their quality control has some explaining to do.