North Coast Red Seal Ale

Brewed by North Coast Brewing Company
Style: American Pale Ale
Fort Bragg, California USA

Bottled. Fairly hoppy aroma and flavour with notes of tea and some fruits. Also some caramel notes. Medium bodied.

Draught at Flying Saucer (Nashville TN) - Man, this is a stellar beer. Wonderful dark color with a smooth head and aroma of roasted malts. Taste is very malt-heavy and has some floral undertones to even it out. Perfect carbonation, enjoy it time after time.

8/22/07 From the bottle. Aroma is a sweet malt/resiny hop blend forward with light citrus and some caramel. Appearance is medium copper with a medium off-white head. Flavor is malt forward with a good resiny hop balance and light caramel and toffee tones. Mouthfeel is medium/low bodied with a strong carb bite. Overall, not too bad, but there’s a bit of clashing between the hop and malt flavors that makes it tough to have more than one.

6-pack from Brewers World, Dumont, NJ...bottle pours a cloudy amber color with a sudsy off-white head...aroma of malt, hops and light flowery citrus...taste is crisp, dry, slight hoppy bitterness in th end...decent lacing...I passed this one up a few months ago but after reading the reviews I made sure to pick it up this time around...glad I did.

Bouteille 12 oz, courtoisie de Hogtownharry. De couleur ambrée foncée et légèrement voilée. Nez de houblon moyennement résineux, légèrement citrique (pamplemousse) et aux notes terreuses, malté de caramel (léger butterscotch), moyennement fruité (abricots, agrumes) et léger de biscuits au miel. Moyennement ronde en bouche avec un pétillement moyen et une texture légèrement crémeuse et résineuse. Goût fruité (agrumes, moyen d’abricots) avec un goût moyennement amer de houblon résineux, moyennement citrique (pamplemousse) avec des notes florales et terreuses (qui dure toute la gorgée) lors de l’entrée en bouche auquel se rajoute un goût malté de caramel moyennement sucré (avec des notes de butterscotch), léger de biscuits au miel ainsi que de petites notes de pain puis en finale l’on assiste à un regain d’amertume de houblon plus résineux et asséchant (notes herbeuses) avec des notes métalliques ainsi que des traces de poivre. Post-goût long-moyen et sec, amer de houblon résineux, citrique et moyennement terreux avec un léger goût fruité (zest d’agrumes) et des notes métalliques.

Bottle. A reddish brown color with a beige and thick head. A mixture of hops and malt in the aroma, not that fruity. Flavor of dark malts and a quick bitter hop hint. Finish is more softer and the bitterness is gone on the palate. Leaves a malty taste even though it is a hoppy beer by character.

Pours dark amber with a minor beige head. The aroma has smooth caramel malt, bits of diacetyl and light hops. Medium body with lots of semi-soft carbonation. The taste starts sharp and metallic with light butterscotch. the finish is oxidized as all hell - just paper and wet cardboard. There is no date on the bottle, but I assume this has been sitting around a while. When I can try a known fresh bottle I will rerate. (original rating - 6/3/6/3/13 - 3.1)
Rerate notes: Fresher bottle doesn’t have diacetyl and is less metallic, but still far from being a great example of the style. Still it is worth bumping up the numbers.

Aroma is a little floral with lime, but also tinny and a bit like feet. Cloudy dark amber pour with a thin head, some lacing. Tastes of dandelions and lime, actually rather nice. Good bitter hop finish.