Red Brick Ale

Brewed by Atlanta Brewing Company
Style: Brown Ale
Atlanta, Georgia USA

BoTMC selection (October 2008): Pour produced a medium brown body, with a medium off-white head. Moderate lacing. Aroma is of roasted malt and caramel. Loud flavor upon first taste, strongly bitter, then sweet, a cacophony of flavor which overshadows the palate, which is of sweet caramel and malts, ending with a bitter hops aftertaste, which was short-lived. Overall, this ale wasn’t bad, per se, though its assertiveness may put some drinkers off.

Really interesting flavor profile in this one. It seems like a lot of different flavors are fighting to get to the front, and it clouds up the results instead of making it more enjoyable. A definite hop presence in the finish, but it ends up getting stale. Seems like I said all negative in there. It’s pretty enjoyable in the long-run actually.

On draught and from 12 oz. bottle all over ATL. Beer pours a deep reddish copper with moderate off-white crown that leaves minimal lacing on glass. Aroma is full of caramel and slightly roasted malt. Flavour screams roasted malt with a moderate hop presence to balance the rather strong malt backbone. Relatively smooth finish with low carbonation and stronger EtOH burn as the beer warms. It is rather strong on EtOH content for a beer of this style but rather drinkable when chilled. Medium-bodied with a slight creaminess on the mouthfeel. Usually well-balanced, I have had my share of Red Bricks that bricked themselves with some off-tastes. Usually better on draught than in the bottle. Most of my pints have been enjoyed at the brewery. itself, during brewery tours. Decent beer but slightly uncharacteristic.

Bottle courtesy of dchmela. Pours brown with a thin off white head. Smells fruity and vegetal with a sugary hint. Tastes spicy and earthy with a sweet finish.

Copper to light brown pour. Thin tan head. Sticky sweet mouth-feel. Mostly caramel malts, but the burnt plastic finish wasn’t for me

Pours a cloudy reddish brown with minimal tan head and small, dustlike, particulate. Was this bottle conditioned? Aroma of caramel malt. Flavor leans toward early infection. A little sour. Some bandaid. Cloying on the palate.

Bottle. Pours brown with a fair head. I found the aroma to be rather strong for the style, but doesn’t deliver anything outside of what I would expect. Notes of chestnuts, toffee, toast are found. It’s definitely malt heavy. The body is heavy, again considering the style. Lots of flavor without being too sharp or too sweet. The bitterness comes across timidly in a nutty delivery. The Red Brick Ale deftly avoids being too sweet, only having a tasteful suggestion of brown sugar. The only fault I could find with this was a rubbery dash in the finish. This beer’s strongest suit is its robust delivery of all the malty qualities I want from this style. It sets it apart from the brown ale pack.

Bottle courtesy of TheBeerCellar. Pours a clear orange-brown with a finger of creamy beige head. The nose is of sweet, round malt with supporting notes of brown sugar and chestnuts. Medium-bodied, slick and creamy it sports assertive carbonation on the swallow and a lightly bitter and mildly astringent finish. The flavor follows the nose with an additional quality of light astringency and a mild, burnt caramel note thrown in to boot. This is a fairly solid brown: drinkable, flavorful and perhaps most importantly, it isn’t boring. Thanks for the bottle, Matt!