Deschutes Cinder Cone Red Ale

Brewed by Deschutes Brewery
Style: Amber Ale
Bend, Oregon USA

12 oz bottle. Clear, rich copper color with a hoppy aroma that oozes slowly from the bottle. Taste is caramel and hops with some rich molassas. Nice and zippy for a red. Medium bodied with a clean finish.

Dark reddish in color. Slightly cream-colored head. Very attractive beer. It had the slight smell of iced tea. The taste was very hoppy and malty as wells as was the finish. I was totally impressed with this stuff. I would like to try this on tap if it is available.

Dark copper color. Wispy white topping of suspended particles clung together. Subtle nose of caramel malt and slightly lemony/citrusy Amarillo and spicy Tettnang. Taste begins by illustrating the caramel malts initially, then levels off and begins to develop a touch of roast on the finish. Meanwhile, the hops seem to be unusually mellow. I’ll be honest and say that I don’t like this at all. The malt flavor is very amateurish (and yes, I am aware that I am speaking of Deschutes here), almost like beginner homebrew and the Amarillo and Tettnang combination needs to either be amped up substancially or switched out for hops more powerful and more fitting for the style, like Centennial or Chinook.

Nice color. Decent taste but a bit too strong. The hops overpower everything else. Not a big fan of Red Ales but this one is better than average.

Nice orange color with a retained off white head and some lacing. Aroma is typical amber, caramelly malty, but wait what is this? An amber ale with hops in the aroma?. The flavor delivers a nice hop zing that really vaults this amber to the top of the charts. Nice interplay between the malts and the hops with a slight tilt towards the hops. Works for me!!!

Russet/golden filtered. Clotted, frothy head. Slightly salty and malty aroma. Subtle breadiness, mostly tangy and a little sharp. If I could some sum up this beer in two words, they would be: bittersweet toffee.

12 oz bottle. Pours a slightly hazy copper with a creamy off-white head that goes to a frothy cap that leaves a little lacing.

The aroma is sweet caramel malts balanced with a nice raw and green hoppiness along with some tea-like notes.

The flavor is nutty caramel malts initially leading to a surprisingly big (for an amber) and raw and citrusy bitterness. The finish is bitter but also crisp. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and has just the right amount of carbonation.

Overall a surprisingly good amber, the best I’ve had to date. This would make an excellent session beer.

Either this is better than last years or I just forgot how darned good this is. The color, aroma, flavor, hop bittnerness, everything is EXCELLENT. Buy it, you won’t be disappointed.