Thomas Hooker Irish Style Red Ale

Brewed by Thomas Hooker Brewing Company
Style: Irish Ale
Bloomfield, Connecticut USA

Dark clear red, small white head ... looks like an Irish Red. Faint nose of malt and hops. Malt, toffee, and hops in the taste, with slight sweet fruit notes and with a good bitter finish. Moderate palate. Mostly pretty average stuff.

Pours a very dark, reddish brown with a thin off-white head. The aroma is very faint, but I can detect light amounts of malts and hops. The flavor is much better and stronger than the aroma - sweet malts with a distinct graininess including some roasted flavors at first. Before the end of the swallow, a pleasant, balancing bitterness enters. The beer finishes slightly bittter. The mouthfeel is medium in body with a sharp carbonation. Overall, pretty decent.

A great beer from a great brewery. This is probably my favorit Thomas Hooker Beer that is available regularly in 6-packs. If your in New England and are looking for something local and great tasting try this Connecticut Original. You will not be disappointed. The beer itself has a great red color, without looking like cough med. (beamish red). The tast is smooth. A great beer.

Buying this, I expected something similar, but better than Smithwicks, but instead found a rather different and unique brew. Has a light beige head of ok size. The beer itself looks almost dark enough to be a brown ale. And a nice fruity smell from this beer does emenate. The taste is what sets it apart though. It tastes almost like a stout or porter with its roasty qualities... coffeeish taste somewhere around the middle and finishing off with some bitter. This is probably the lightest beer I have ever had that has this kind of taste and surely it is interesting.

Pours out red with a white head. Aroma is sweet at first and then you pick up a slight roasted smell. Flavor is roasty malts with some sweet caramel in the mix as well. At the end the hops come out in a bitter bite but nothing too bad. This beer is so so and I don’t care if I ever have it again.

Bottle: Deep red in color with an off white head. Aroma of grassy hops some caramel and herbal notes. Flavor, caramel, bready notes, some herbal and grassy hops. Pretty average.

Deep red color with a light head. Very malty aroma with some nuts and fruits thrown in. Taste is malty with a fair helping of hops, but its a bit unbalanced in my opinion - this type of malt often rubs me the wrong way, although I have no idea why. Overall pretty drinkable, but I prefer some of TH’s other brews myself.

Irish Red? This looks more like a nut brown, deep copper brown color no head. Sweet malty aroma. Nice flavor, malty and sweet at the start with touches of caramel and brown sugar. Finish is sweet and smooth. Finally, a Hooker beer I enjoy.