McNeills Ruby Ale

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

thanks to firemoose15 for sharing the wealth from his bomber. very red when poured, alot more so than any other "red" beer ive ever seen, capped by a thin layer of white creamy foam. citrus and grass come out of the nose, with further inspection revealing some spices and malts. flavor was more complex than most ipa’s, i actually wondered if this was an imperial at the time. there are alot of caramel malts present, so their sweetness balances the hops very well. also a bit of spicyness shows at the end of the sip. again, alot more body than most ipa’s, almost creamy, with a distinct hop bite on the tail, but not enough bitterness to take away from the rest of the flavors.

Couleur orangée tirant vers le cuivrée. Ample mousse blanche parsemé de grosses bulles savonneuses et adhérant bi en à la paroi du verre. Arômes, toujours un peu muette, d’agrumes allant vers le pamplemousse rose, légèrement conifère. Belle balance agrumes amers contre le malt biscuit, un brin de caramel malgré la forte dose de houblon impliquée. Corps d’épaisseur moyenne adéquat pour le style. En fût chez McNeill’s, 22 Mai 2005.

Almost copper in color. Bubbly head. Roasted malt aroma with hint of fruity hops. Very different from their Dead Horse. With all the malt coming out in this one, tastes more like a brown ale. Slightly sweet finish. Cheers!

Amber in color with large white head with large loose bubbles. Aroma is of toasted malt, hoppy-spicy/citrus aroma. Sweet caramel flavor.

Bottle courtesy of ChazyRPh, very fine brew as a "throw in". Will agree with previous two that I was expecting something different. This had some very subtle amber notes but for the most part is a big hoppy, malty ipa. Very well done. Aroma hurts the score a little but could drink this brew anytime.

From the name, I was not really expecting a big, brassy IPA. The colour is a sort of a gingery copper tone, with a slight haze and a negligible head. Enormous hoppy aroma, but there was a surprising level of malty backbone to go with the orangey, citric hop in the flavour. The aftertaste remains hoppy, but is more restrained. Quite impressed, but its a bit too full on to score higher. Bottled at the DC gathering.

Clear amber coloured body with some subtle brown tints and a nice off-white head. Aroma of fresh hops, a pleasant freshness and some malt. Medium-bodied; Fresh hop flavour up front fading to malt. Aftertaste shows no signs of the hops nor any other strong flavours-just fades into a nice finish. Overall, great to try-this isn’t one you see around much! Thanks to BuckNaked for this beer. I sampled this 75 cL bottle at the November RB party at Founder’s in Alexandria, Virginia on 20-November-2004.

Well, the bottle is definitely way cool--just red paper that looks like it was printed from someone’s computer and copied at Kinko’s--about as close to homebrew as you can get without making your own. I feel sorry for whoever had to bottle a huge (by homebrew standards) batch of this stuff. Take it from me. Bottling sucks.

Pours deep red with a bit of haze since I wasn’t careful not to disturb the yeast. Nose is sticky with pine with an undertone of roasted marshmallow. The pour on this was more or less headless, clearly because this is undercarbonated. I’m wondering if the brewery stored this to cold or sent it out the door before it had time to condition properly. Anyway, it does have a nice resinous stickiness to it without being overly bitter. Solid but it could well be great if it was carbonated better.

That was fun. I just rated this like it was a buddy’s homebrew....