McNeills Ruby Ale

Brewed by McNeills Brewery
Style: Amber Ale
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

From bottle...pours a hazy amber..about the color of the label...and has a nice IPA creamy head. Aroma is ultra floral hops, yeast, and grapefruit. Taste is surpisingly sour...with a bit of bittering hops. Kind of strange for an IPA, but I like it. Mouthfeel is extremely light and dry. I dig it....but it is strange.

From bottle. Pours a dark orange with small white head and decent lacing. Aroma is floral, bitter hops and some sourness. Flavor is a bitter/sour mix with not much in the way of malt. Maybe some orange rind. Goes down smooth though.

A truly boring beer. Not worthy of the IPA moniker. This one’s mellow and malty with a light bittered perfumey hop taste.

(22 oz bottles: Obtained in trades with Eyedrinkale and goldtwins, thanks Mike and Larry!) Two bottles in my possession, kept refrigerated the entire time, and since the first one is showing considerable barnyard and funk in the aroma, mild sourness in the flavor, and is almost flat, I might as well open the other one too. Fingers crossed that this bottle is better. Okay, the second bottle pours a bubbly, off-white head that rises to nearly an inch, that’s a good sign. The enticing nose is only moderately aromatic, but smells hoppy, citrusy, slightly vegetal and mineraly rather than funky or sour like the other bottle. Plenty of moderately bitter hops in the flavor, lots of grapefruit, but it’s definitely not into hophead territory. Nothing really stands out in the maltiness, but it provides a nice base. Light vegetal flavor comes out after the beer has seen some time in my pint glass. I’m also getting a fair amount of dust and chalk in the flavor as well as in the mouthfeel, something I always seem to enjoy. Clean and crisp on the palate, medium bodied. Light amber in color with only a very slight haze on the initial pour. Even after drinking most of the ten ounces I poured, the head still boasts a complete, quarter-inch layer, and the very large and dense patches of lace coat most of the glass and it reminds me of sponge painting. Just a gorgeous beer. Significant yeast sediment makes for a very cloudy second pour. Overall, a very solid and drinkable IPA with a good, clean and fresh hoppy flavor. Perhaps it won’t fully satisfy devoted hopheads, but it satisfies this hops-lovin’ California resident just fine. Nicely done.

Listed as an amber, and it has the colour. Piney aroma. Hoppy enough for an IPA. With blind tasting, this would be to me like a Stone IPA. Leaf hop dry, with some malting and carmel. Very quaffable. Nicely done, and given the chronology of reviews, i would say they have improved it and moved it over to a hophead delight.

I forget who brought this to Paul’s party, but thanks.

Poured a cloudy dark amber with a small off-white head. Aroma of caramel and citrus. Taste is bland and lightly hoppy, with a bit of citrus and a dry bitter finish. Thought this was an amber ale; didn’t feel quite hoppy enough to be an IPA.

This is very much a watered down arrogant bastard. Not that it is a bad thing, AB is a great beer, and this shares aroma and flavors, just muted. The palate is thin and the malt is a bit underwhelming. Hops are aided by the the great fresh hop aroma.

Orange body with thin ringing white head. Pine caramel aroma. Roasted malt caramel woody flavor. Light refreshing palate with clean finish.