Southern Tier Big Red

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Lakewood, New York USA

On tap. Good hop aroma, good red amber color, good balance flavor with a lingering hop dryness at the end. Good overall, needs less dry hop aftertaste.

22 oz. brown, bomber bottle. No freshness date seen. Poured out a brilliant orange color, with a thin, tan colored, sticky head. Aromas are of jasmine tea, sweet caramel malts, some toffee, palm sugar. Flavors are of strong malts, some Special B, earthy hops. Excellent body, rich and smooth. Flavors dance on your tongue, enticing you to drink more. Alcohol is dangerously well hidden. This is one smooth beer gang. Probably the best beer I’ve had from Southern Tier so far.

This should be getting way, way more love here. I think we are so used to piney, citric hop flavors in a big beer that when something else comes along, we don’t know quite how to react. Pours a clear medium copper with a lasting white head that leaves a thick lace on the glass, quite attractive. Aroma is perfumey, floral, and a bit spicy, very unusual for most American brews. Initial biscuit oriented malt flavors give way to a spicy floral hop finish with a very long lingering bitterness. Malts and hops match perfectly here. When I read that this was a Hallertau based brew, the reason for the unique hop profile became clear. American brewers really should pay a bit more attention to some of the more traditional German varieties as a way of creating a more unique flavor profile, which is what Southern Tier has done here. The closest thing I can compare this to is the Sam Adams Imperial Pils, but this is clearly an ale. Outstanding stuff.

22oz bomber. Orange-brown color, filtered from the looks of it. Fresh amber malt aroma. This is an awesome Imperial Amber beer. Smooth and creamy with a solid Hallertau backbone. The warming of the alcohol and the creamy richness of the amber malt go together quite well. Really an exceptional beer by any standard. Pleasant lingering aftertaste of hops.

One of my favorites. More dark orange pour with red highlights. Little must/yeast in the aroma. Big hop taste in the front of the beer, but nice malty mouthfeel too. Not over carbonated. Nice job, just wish there was more in MD.

RateBeer Rating, Style and Glass: 86, American Strong, Trappist ABV, Volume & Calories: 9% in 22 fl oz. estimated at 400 C Purchased at: Circle liquors Super Saver, Pennington, NJ for $5.99 Enjoyed with Roch Pisarek on his birthday. Many more and much love. Aroma: nice, citrusy. 8 out of 10. Visuals: nice label, good design, brilliant, amber, clear, fluffy white head, nice lace. 5 out of 5. Taste: malty, bitter, balanced, strong, well crafted, delicious. 9 out of 10. Palate: high quality, nice texture, longer finish. 4 out of 5. Overall: beautiful, tasty, well done beer. I’d have it again, but it wasn’t especially special. Average value, nicely crafted. 17 out of 20.

2/16/08: Re-rate. i must be losing my mind because I have no recollection of rating this brew which I apparently did less than a month ago. i bought about 4 bottles around that time, one for myself and 3 for several friends in MN to bring back there. Anyway, from likely the same case, same batch, my rating this time around was noticeably better. Maybe it had to age for 3 weeks?!? Moderate hop aroma with dark fruit aspect and higher alcohol profile evident. Tons of visible carbonation. Clear amber body. Frothy, off-white head with excellent lace. Good amount of alcohol punch but seems lower than 9.5%. Consistent with my last rating, I detect some metallic notes initially. Perfect balance. Is this the best red beer ever? As a red, probably yes, as an American Strong, no, but underrated at 42% in it’s style. Very yummy. Went from a 3.6 overall to a 4.2 in 3 weeks. 1/26/08: Bottle. Basic malty lager aroma. Very different than I was expecting for a big, supposedly hoppy red ale. Dark gold to light amber body with so much visible carbonation, the crystal clear body almost looks hazy. Champagne-like in that respect. Tastes much more like I expected. Sweet and strong. Initially almost a touch on the cloying side. Hop finish is somewhat metallic, but settles into the Hallertau that I know and love. Very nice lace. Frothy, white lace and head. A nice flavor, but quite frankly, not at the exceptional level of most other Southern Tier brews. Good enough to be most brewers best beer and a beer that I would probably gush after for any new undiscovered brewer I came across. However, I know what ST is capable of and this falls somewhat short. For all of the visible carbonation, the mouthfeel is almost flat. A very nice bitter Hallertau finish. Enjoyable. Ar 5, Ap 5, Fl 7, Pal 4, Ov 15

24 Dec 07. 22oz bottle. pours medium amber color, off-white (golden) head. Aroma of nutty malt, piney hops, and some alcohol. Flavor has some presence of sweetness, although mostly controlled by a very stern bodied, high alpha presence. BIG HOP in the finish. I love a good "palate killer" just like the next hop head. I just needed a warning for this particular hop bomb. Ka - Boom... Big hop pow. CHEERS!