Estes Park Trail Ridge Red

Brewed by Estes Park Brewery
Style: Bitter
Estes Park, Colorado USA

12 oz bottle (labeled as The Stanley Hotel Redrum Ale). Pours a brownish copper with a thin creamy off white head that quickly recedes to a thin film.

The aroma is sweet caramel malts and fruity hops.

The flavor is sweet and sugary caramel malts with some toasted biscuit and nuts. The finish has some good "C" hop flavoring but is lightly bitter. The mouthfeel is medium and kind of watery.

Overall, a pretty nice hoppy amber. I think this one is pretty underrated.

12 oz bottle. This was actually a repackaged bottle sold near the Hotel where the Shining was filmed. It was called The Stanly Hotel Redrum Ale. Anyhow, nice red amber with good carbonation and a light head. Lightly pleasant sweet malt with a light citrus hop presence. To me this actually smelled more like a "amber/red ale" than a bitter. Very light in the flavor category but nothing was off. Light caramel with come grain. Hints of musty yeast and muddled hops (cola?). Medium mouth feel. This was relatively easy drinking just like most things from the Estes Park Brewing company, but nothing that made it stand out.

Tap at brewpub. Pours cologne amber with an aroma of weak autumn leaves and sugar. Weak grapefruit flavor. Watery mouthfeel. IPA light???

[Colorado Road Trip – 2006] A deep reddish brew with a light head. Liked the aroma and the flavor the finish was a tad dry with some off flavors. Hard to pick but too much but this was not a perfect red and would have liked a better hop/malt balance.

Draught sampled at the brewery. The beer was clear, medium red-brown with a small, frothy, white, mostly diminishing head. The aroma was shy—lightly malty with a note of toasted grain, light note of honey. The flavor was moderately sweet, lightly-to-moderately bitter, trace acidic with a long, lightly bittersweet/grippy finish. The body was light, the texture was watery and the carbonation was lively.

Pours to a dark amber, with off-white head that diminished fairly quickly, and decent lacing. The aroma was hops and slightly citrus. Flavor was a tasty balance of hops, and as the glass warmed, more malt. The only down side to this was the palate. The body was slightly thin, and the finish was watery, that turned quicklyu to dry and slightly sour. Not a bad beer, but I failed to detect much int he line of bitter. More like a mixture of an Amber and a Pale Ale.

Not really a red, more amber, does have a grainy malt taste, but not full bodied. A little sweet as well. Aftertaste not very good. Better than the gold.

On tap at the brewpub 4/13/06: More brown than red with a decent adhesive head. Nutty at first, but finishes musty and dirty. I didn’t like it.