Lancaster Celtic Rose

Brewed by Lancaster Brewing Co.
Style: Irish Ale
Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA

From the tap poured amber with a fair amount of head. Nice malty hoppy flavor with a lingering finish.

A fun occasional distraction to some of LBC’s finer brews. I feel as though I would be doing the brew a disservice to say that it wasn’t at one time one of their best. The quality appears to change pretty dramatically from season to season. The current brew is a little too overbearing with its hoppyness. For a celtic, however, this is actually pretty tame. This brew, it seems, tries to skate the line between being accessible to fans of blond ales and irish reds. It excels in neither category very well. Fairly bitter over-all. This can be a fine brew with the proper food to counter-balance that, but on its own.. it is fairly lackluster.

On tap at Mad Mex in State College PA. Very nice, apparently very fresh. Amber, cinnamon nose. Malty sweet palate, almost like wort. Spicy too. Candyish , nice and sweet yet hoppy bite at end.

On tap at the brewpub and served in an imperial pint glass. Arrived at the table a clear golden amber with a thin linen white head that completely disappeared after the first sip. Barely any aroma to speak of except for perhaps a trace amount of malt. Flavor is weak malt with a bitter, almost astringent finish that is thankfully brief and does not linger. Not real crazy about this one.

Sampler, at Lancaster location. Pours a clear reddish copper with light visible carbonation and just a thin ring of head. The nose is toasty malt, some light hops, and a touch of fruitiness. Pretty flavorful for the style, a little sweet up front, more bitter towards the back. Some dry toasty malt, a little grainy. Mouthfeel is fairly clean and light with soft fizzy carbonation. Pretty decent, it thinned out a bit the more I had, but it was very drinkable.

Imperial pint draft at the brewpub. Brown-amber color, a little hazy. Sweet, lightly balanced by the hops. Quality medium bodied Amber Ale. Balanced, but lacks some depth. Some interesting subtle sweet pungency.

tastes like a very light amber ale. a slight hop aroma. doesn’t have too much of a taste to it, a hint of hops.

On tap at Doc’s in Lancaster. Had not heard of this release, wasn’t sure what it was when served. Nice enough looking when tapped, tan head didn’t last long. Nose a bit off. I thought it might be a standard English bitter, but there was something that didn’t fit the style - now I know why.