Scuttlebutt Sequoia Red Ale

Brewed by Scuttlebutt Brewing Co.
Style: Amber Ale
Everett, Washington USA

Date: September 09, 2009
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Appearance: clear copper, creamy beige head, sheets of lace
Aroma: sweet malt aroma, nice dose of citrus hops
Body: light body
Flavor: sweet malt flavor, combination of crystal and caramel characters, robust hoppyness with citrus and earthy hops, plenty of balancing bitterness leaves a lasting bitter finish
Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 2.9/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ** /4

Bright amber colour. Slightly fruity hop and toasty malt in the aroma. Light bitterness, light toastiness. Vague, but what comes through in good. It just needs to be more assertive.

(nitro) Clear amber body with creamy off-white head. Aroma is slight; medium sweet, caramel, light grapefruit. Taste is medium sweet, caramel, some grapefruit mid-tongue that fades before the swallow. Creamy, light-medium body.

On nitro charge at the brewpub in Everett, Washington. Pours a clear copper amber brew with a creamy and soft off-white head that slowly dissolves to a thin and creamy off-white head with excellent lacing from the nitro pour. Aroma of caramel malt, light apples, brown sugar and roasted nuts. Taste is medium bodied, malty caramel and toffee flavors with a touch of citrus zest. Finish is smooth and creamy with a malty aftertaste and then a mild bitterness.

Draft at the 74th Street. Dark ruddy brownish body with a valiant if overmatched off-white falling head. Light yeasty bread on the nose, gentle malt character, medium body, crisp hop finish. A little spicy and bitter for a training-wheels beer, but not by much. An instantly likable, instantly forgettable beer that will start no arguments in its life.
Draft at the brewpub, on nitro. Give this two more notches for flavor over the normally aspirated version (normally this gets a 3.0). Nose picks up some grassy notes somewhere. Otherwise, not much happening and no other changes. Not as flat or as creamy as most nitros. Like everything Scuttlebutt does, the nitro is understated.

(Draft: Scuttlebutt Brewing Co. in Everett, WA) Pleasantly aromatic nose features a dry and wonderfully toasty aroma, and is certainly a nice start for this beer. The toastiness continues in the flavor, showing a fair amount of lightly sweet chocolate, and is complemented by a mild bitterness that allows the toasty chocolate to remain in control. Light-to-medium bodied, seems a bit thin, but certainly not watery, and is reasonable enough for the style. Pours a light amber color, fully clear, topped by a light tan head. Plenty of patchy lacing is left on the glass to complete the solid visuals. Overall, not the most flavorful beer, but for the style, it’s more than acceptable, and the toasty, malty flavor is right up my alley.

(Nitro Draft: Scuttlebutt Brewing Co. in Everett, WA) Side-by-side comparison with the standard draft version, and wow, the nitro version is significantly different. Almost all of the toastiness in the draft version is lost here. Instead, the lightly citrusy hoppiness is dominant, and the gently toasty malt base is in the background, so this version is much closer to the official description on the beer sampler menu. Light amber color is the same, but the off-white head is paler in color, and of course, much taller and creamier with incredible retention and dense lacing. All in all, though, I much prefered the draft version, and my ratings are for that.

Nitro at Buckeroo:Hazy amber, lasting beige head. Light citrus nose.Start is very sweet, a bit too much so, medium strength hop finish. Great lacing

On Tap at Scuttlebutt Slightly hazy redish brown. Good off white head and lacing. Woody maltiness and hopped well. Bitter finish and a nicely balanced beer overall. The Nitro sampled at the same time was similar but I thought also that some of the rich malt flavors were not as noticeable. The creamy nitro head and palate were the main difference.