Big River Grille Irish Red Lager

Brewed by Big River Grille & Brewing Works Chattanooga (Gordon Biersch)
Style: Vienna
Chattanooga, Tennessee USA

Name: Irish Red
Brewery: Rock Bottom Brewery - Atlanta
Date: 03/04/2008
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub, Atlanta

Appearance: clear dark red with a copper hue, big dense beige head, layers of drippy lace,
Aroma: bready malt aroma with a light caramel sweetness balanced by light earthy hops,
Flavor: dry caramel malt flavor, nice bready character, earthyness keeps it balanced, touch of caramel sweetness comes through to rebalance the earthyness, good interplay between the caramel sweetness and the dry earthyness, light lasting bitter finish rises out of the earthy hops,

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 12/20
Rating: 3.1/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: *4

Draft a Seven Bridges. Poured a auburn color with a moderate frothy white head that diminished quickly. Average sweet malty aroma. Light to medium body with a thin texture. Same sweet malty flavor with little bitter finish of short duration. Many better brews from this location.

On tap at Disney World location. Pours a golden amber orange with an off white head. Aroma of light roasted malts and caramel. Flavor of roasty malts and some cocoa.

On tap at their Disney Boardwalk location. Pours a beautiful dark copper that sparkles in the sun with a light, but long lasting white head. No real apparent aroma - hints of fresh lake water. Bold flavor with hints of mint, chocololate, and traces of horehound candy. Very earthy. Mouthfeel is decently thick for the style but it metallicizes in the end to knock it down a notch.

Virtually no aroma, what was there was mild citrus, peat and brown sugar. Tannic, dry, nutty and made with quality malt. Mildly hopped, medium finish. Palate was a bit watery, and it needed a bit more fizz and kick.

Very bright copper body with excellent stiff foam head that lasts. Toasted wood aroma. Full, malty flavor. Something slightly odd. Good overall.

Draft in Chattanooga w/ Shag/Clash. Poured a dark amber to copper color with a nice initial head, decent lacing. The aroma was light roast, some caramel. The flavor followed suit, although mixed in and underneath was a corny adjunct flavor that started to get annoying by mid-glass. The first half of the glass was drinkable, probably the best of the four I did at BR Chattanooga (although not lager crisp, even had some fruity ester notes over top of it), but with warmer temperatures, I couldn’t get past the adjunct flavor in each sip. Imbalanced clearly to the malty side of things.

On draft as their ’special’ beer when I was there. Nice malty flavor and aroma, this was one of their better brews.