Birra Moretti La Rossa

Brewed by Heineken Italia
Style: Doppelbock
Milano, Italy

12 oz bottle, snifter. I couldn’t rouse much of a head from the pour. Not something I’m particularly attached to in this style. Deep maroon hue. Aroma is strong of plum and red-grape juice. Caramel, grains. Light alcohol. Moderately sweet, moderately acidic flavor becomes a lightly sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter flavor. Medium-full body, watery/creamy texture, average carbonation, light alcohol. The bottom line is: glad this isn’t classified as a doppelbock as it falls well short of that mark. My real knock on this beer is the acidity...it’s just out of place. That and there’s not a lot of depth here. Meh.

A first-rate bock that might rate higher if not for its country of origin. (Who expects Italian beer to be this good?) It’s a rare Ferrari among the workaday Fiats of the Italian brewing industry. Poured an amber colour with a lasting tan head. Lots of sweet malt in the aroma, with chocolate and molasses characters. Smooth, firm body with chocolate malt and dried fruit dominating before a healthy slug of alcohol in the dry, spicy finish. Very satisfying and comfortably the best Italian beer I’ve discovered to date. (Bottle)

My favorite Italian beer, so far. Crisp dark copper. Big head, light lacing. Warm malt aroma. Very drinkable dark beer with flavours or cookie, toast and light roasted malt.

Bottle at Firenze in Bellevue. Pours a reddish brown color. The nose is a subdued raisin and nut aroma. The beer is light bodied and gently carbonated. With a great melding of flavors that consist of figs, dates, raisins, nuts, cherries, and some alcohol. I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

Tasted at KC Bier Meisters meeting in my NB worthy glass. Reddish brown color with an off-white head. Malty, raisins aroma. Malty, caramelly flavor with some dark fruits. Seemed to have heavy carbonation (did not when I had the beer again). Light finish. An Italian bock? what will they think of next? A pleasant suprise.

Interesting Italian red ale...tons of initial hazelnut flavor and aroma, more so than almost any other beer I’ve had (including Rogue’s hazelnut-themed beers). Overall, perhaps a bit sweet but still a relatively dry ale...definitely the best Italian beer I’ve had (although the selection is slim).

bottle-pours a nice red hue with a slightly off-white head that lasted forever. Huge malty aroma-sweet and fruity. highly sweet flavors but its hard to make out many of them (caramelt malts). A huge malty beer, but definately not my thing. Not a bad beer perse, but the sweetness kinda gets to me.

Brown sugar or molasses on both the nose and the palate. A decent mixture of hops and malts. A bit rough on the palate, though, without a lot of balance. A little too sweet, but very smooth.