Coronado Mermaids Red Ale

Brewed by Coronado Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
Coronado, California USA

Name: Mermaid’s Red Ale
Date: 12/03/2007
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub

clear dark red, fine beige head, drippy lace, sweet caramel malt aroma with a touch of bready character balanced by light floral hops, dark caramel malt flavor, light sweetness is balanced by earthy hops, touch of bready character, light bitterness,

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 3/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

22oz bomber: This one pours a ruby tinged amber. It is very clear. There is a large beige head on mine. It seems to be dissipating rather quickly. The aroma has a bit of caramel, grassy hops and a touch of spiciness to it. The taste is a touch dry, with a slight hint of bitterness to it. Decent enough malt backbone to it. A pretty good beer. Easy to drink. Thanks to Vac for the trade.

17-Oct-07 (22-oz bottle: Purchased 10-Oct-07 for $3.39 at BevMo in La Jolla, CA) I last rated this beer about 3½ years ago, and in that time, Coronado has significantly improved the quality of their beer, and Mermaid’s Red is a good example. Replacing the toasty/roasty character of earlier batches, the malt backbone is sweet and caramely and offers medium-full body. The beer is still featuring a fairly floral hops, though, and this doesn’t seem like a good match to balance the caramely malts because it tends to augment the perceived sweetness. Over time, the floral nature tends to dissipate, and the hops pick up a flavor of unsweetened tea. The nose is mostly floral hops unless the beer is swirled, and then the sweet caramely malts jump out, masking the floral nature of the beer. Carbonation is medium. Ruddy amber in color, fairly clear, capped by a medium-sized, off-white head. Retention is fair, the head settling to a wide ring, but the dense patches of lace are worth noting. Still not a great beer, but certainly improved, and solid enough to purchase on draft once in awhile.

04-Jun-04 (22 oz bottle) This is a good news, bad news type of beer; We’ll start with the bad news since that is what I’m experiencing first; The nose is a bit offensive, being sweet, floral, and perfumy, and the initial flavor is also sweet and floral, but with some kind of off flavor like plastic; The sweetness seems artificially generated rather than being a quality, in character kind of sweetness; The good news is that this wears off and is eventually replaced with more pleasant flavors in the finish; For a red ale, it has a fairly robust maltiness with a moderate but prominent toasted maltiness in the finish, so it’s not your typical red ale; It’s moderately bitter from start to finish with a fair amount of hoppiness for decent balance; But unfortunately, the beer must be judged as a whole, and despite a strong finish, the initial flavor just can’t be overlooked; Good, solid body, somewhere in the medium+ range; The color is a ruddy brown; Pours with a creamy, tan colored head, and has decent retention, but it’s unable to grab the glass and lacing is minimal (3, 4, 5, 4, 12 = 2.8)

22oz bomber- A medium amber body with a decent head and an aroma of malt and hops. Taste the same with a great balance between them

22 oz bottle and on tap at Coronado Brewery. Excellent beer, good go to beer when you cant decide. Pours a light amber color with small white head. Smooth taste very well balanced.

on tap at the Loews Hotel bar, Coronado. ruddy light brown color, light tan creamy head. aroma is raw nutty malt. flavor is thin caramel malt offset by a bitter nuttiness, some mild leafy hop bitterness.

650ml bottle. Pours an amber red with an off-white head. Aroma is light with caramel and spice. Flavor is watered down malts and some moderate hops. Mouthfeel is a bit thin with a lingering film. Finish is biter hops and a saccharine sweetness. Overall this beer falls well short of being a great red. I really expect much more from this brewer.

Tap. Pours brownish-red with a short off-white head. Nutty and caramel aroma. More of the same in the taste with biscuits, metal and a bitter cascade finish. Kind of a malt-bomb for a red.