Kern River Sequoia Red

Brewed by Kern River Brewing
Style: Amber Ale
Kernville, California USA

Appearance: Pours a hazy red body with a profusely fizzy, off-white head. Smell: Aroma of caramel malts, toasted grains, and a mild citrus hop presence. Taste: Caramel maltiness with a nice measure of sweetness. Notes of toasted grains and lemon. A spicy, earth bitterness emerges on the finishes, but remains rather light. Simple and straightforward, but this is an amber ale we’re talking about. Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Moderate carbonation. Drinkability: Though I’d prefer a more milder level of carbonation, I still thought this one was pretty good.

Pours a hazy copper bronze with a large, over-carbonated off-white head. Aroma of slightly earthy grassy piny hops and some pale toasted malts and black pepper. Starts with a mild malty sweetness and drier, earthy bitterness toward slightly toasted bittersweet, slightly citrusy finish.

Pours a deep amber red color with an off white head. Aroma is some caramel with an astringent bitterness. Flavor is caramel with an astringent bitter finish.

22oz bottle acquired in trade. The pour is surpirsingly dark for an amber ale. Deep dark red. Head reduces to a thin layer of creamy tight bubbles. Some lacing. Aroma is sweet with some indication that there is hops present as well. Flavor is initially sweet but I can quickly taste some light hops. Some fruity notes as well. It’s pretty much to style - caramel malts with just touch of hops to keep it from being overly sweet. Definitely quality if not overly interesting.

Lightly hazy, very pretty red pour with bright orange hues. Slowly receding beige head, frothy, with thick lacing - staggered squiggles result in some of the heaviest lacework I’ve seen. The nose is complex and strange, hints of wheat preceding grapefruit, diacetyl, chemicals(plastic), amber malt(caramel), light toast, cereal grain, cashew nuttiness and orange toffee. A poor aroma, awkward in its skin and directionally challenged. The flavor confirms the diacetyl aroma. Otherwise, and for the better, plentiful hoppy bitterness of a medium and complex caliber, evenly and thoroughly toasted grains, mild to moderate sweetness, mild astringency, medium acidity and plenty of sticky and resiny oils. The mouthfeel is average though the beer is not very drinkable, not very smooth. Fizzy high carbonation, light-medium bodied, alternating watery texture and sticky, syrupy pockets. An over-domination of crystal malt is a disenchanting segue into a bland and bitter finish. Sub-par, eben though it’s very interesting and definitely memorable for its unique qualities.

Courtesy irishboy. Pours a slightly hazy maroon /red color with a massive, foamy, cloud-like light tan head. Some decent lacing left behind as well. Nothing spectacular in the aroma. Some musty malts, mild caramel, and spicy hope are all noticeable. A little vegetal. Big carbonation, the flavor is more on the malty side. The hops are more noticeable in the finish and in the aftertaste as some hop bitterness was evident. Not overly flavorful and seemingly unbalanced. Not a bad amber, but certainly flawed.

Bottle from Irishboy - thanks! Dark reddish color, nearly mohogany. Aroma has some grainy, caramel essence to it with some light hop aroma. Flavor has a bit of citrus and piney hop to it, but its dominated by a caramel and grainy taste thats not bad, but suffers from being a bit too medicinal. Not bad - I’m liking what I see of Kern River thus far.

22oz bottle acquired in trade with Odeed (thanks!). Poured a deeper and slightly hazy amber color with a large sized off white head. Aromas of caramel, toffee, toasted malts, and oranges. Tastes of sweet caramel, toasted malts, and light citrus. Definitely on the sweeter, maltier side.