Berghoff Famous Red Ale

Brewed by Minhas Craft Brewery
Style: American Pale Ale
Monroe, Wisconsin USA

12oz bottle acquired in trade. Poured a medium and clear orange color with an averaged sized off white head. Muted aromas of grain and some caramel. Tastes of caramel, grain and citrus. Both the aromas and tastes on the weak side (like the body).

A 12-oz bottle...I visited the brewer of this beer (Huber in Monroe, WI) a few years ago. Berghoff beer is brewed for the Berghoff restaurant, founded in Chicago in 1890. Anyhow, this beer is OK, but the Berghoff brand appears to have been eclipsed by other brewers and sort of lost its "craft" credentials, and this beer is symptomatic of that change. The appearance is red (as advertised) but otherwise looks like a mainstream beer. There is decent head formation, but it doesn’t stick around for long. You can tell when you pour it that this beer is thin...like a Budweiser. Odor is like that of an amber ale. There is a weak caramel malt smell. It tastes like sweet caramel malt...in fact it tastes a lot like a Moretti Rosa (a dunkel) I had yesterday. Not too bad, but I’m not a huge sweet malt fan. As its appearance belied, the mouthfeel is thin. I’m not into the sweet malt taste...so I didn’t want another one of these. But, if that’s the taste you’re into, you might find this beer fairly drinkable.

Amber color, with a head that faded very fast. Some lace, though, and that’s a plus, but certainly not enought to make this beer any more than average. Malt aroma. Semi-sweet malt flavor, with a little bitterness thrown in. If I were brewing this, I’d add more hops.

Bottle: Bronze, reddish, light head and lacing. Sweet melon and fruit rind, hop essence. Koji? Certain buttery notes and a malty nose. The flavor is a bit dusty and musky, even manuery. Finishes a bit too sweet and bland.

Thin, acrid, tastes like non-toxic model glue smells. Unpleasantly bitter in aftertaste. Got it at $6.99 for 12 and it was overpriced. Foul.

An intriguing beer. From a bottle, it pours a red-hued amber with a medium white head. Malty & grainy aroma. Sweet initial taste with hints of molasses & granola cereal. Some hops in the background but they’re faint. Fairly light mouthfeel. Easy to put one of these away quickly. Good beer for the price!

From a 12 oz. twist cap brown bottle with no freshness date. Poured a slightly hazy reddish amber with a foamy head that settled into a thin sudsy lacing. Aromas of sweet grain and caramel malts, fruity and floral. Good carbonation and a smooth, creamy light-medium bodied mouthfeel. Not bad, but overall, average tasting, toasted grains, caramel with brown sugar touches, a light fruitiness, soft, earthy, spicy hop bitterness, quick and short, and a dryish grainy and sweet malty finish, decent, affordable drinkability. A cheap enough and decent enough to serve in a pinch, better than many of the other Berghoff beers.

Nice colour, pours nicely with a decent head that’s not excessive. Tastes flat, even when not. Not undrinkable, but like most American ales (I’m still hunting for one I can like) it’s way, way too sweet, almost syrupy: pour some on a flat surface and let it dry, and it leaves a sticky mess behind. I won’t be revisiting any Berghoff beers, methinks.