Foothills Red Ale

Brewed by Foothills Brewing
Style: Irish Ale
Winston-Salem, North Carolina USA

Name: Irish Red
Date: 04/11/2008
Mode: Draft
Source: Barley’s, NC

Appearance: clear dark red, fine dirty white head, lots of scattered lace,
Aroma: sweet bready dark caramel malt aroma,
Flavor: rich malt flavor, nice caramel sweetness, touch of toasted malts, lots of fresh bread character, light earthyness for balance and a light bitter finish,

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 12/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: *4

on tap-pours a creamy off white head and copper/red color. Aroma is medium malt-some sweet. Taste is medium malt-some sweet/smoky, secondary flat hops bite. OK/mild carbonation.

On tap as the Irish red seasonal. For an Irish red- this was actually pretty good, but still a boring style. Medium amber red with a nice head. Aroma is nutty with good full caramel malts, slight butter, low hops and good ester fruitiness. Flavor is toffee, caramel, herbal hops, light spice, and a good fruitiness. Fairly clean and very easy to drink.

On tap at tyler’s in durham. Poured a red hued brown with an off white head. Aroma of caramel and chocolate, although there may have been some sweet, citrus. Flavor was similar. A really solid caramel backbone; some chocolate. A nice amount of bitterness for the style. Citrus and orange in the finish. A very solid beer.

Draft at the brewery. Reddish orange clear pour with minimal ring of whitish head. Nose of caramel malts and a little nutty. Flavor has a good bit of nuttiness, but again it comes across as vegetal, more caramel, some citrus. Clean and easy drinking. Not a bad beer at all, but nothing overly special.

On tap at Barley’s: Pours a solid red hue with a fair tannish head. The aroma is quite toasty with lots of nuts, toffee, and even some light grapefruit. This brew has a fairly light mouthfeel with an easy to drink flavor profile. Hints at toast, toffee, chocolate, subtle citrus are all here but in a lighter, thirst-quenching package which makes this surprisingly drinkable. I certainly don’t get excited about Irish-styled red ales, but I could drink a lot of these.

Had a half pint at the brewery when I was picking up my grolwers of sexual chocolate last weekend. This a well-hopped irish/red ale. Simple to drink, smooth, and downright tasty. I could drink a few of these, easy. Thanks Jamie for hooking it up with the growlers and giving me a (beer) reason to stay in NC!

I just finisheda growler of this solid, somewhat hoppy red ale and I am extremely impressed by its balance. Piney bitterness up front is completely justified by a wonderful maple and caramel malty backbone. Hooray for well done simple brews!