AleSmith YuleSmith (Winter) Imperial Red Ale

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
San Diego, California USA

Pours a clear amber color, with a very big frothy cream colored head. Nice lacing. Aroma is very hoppy, with light esters. The flavor is more balanced between hops and malts. Some sweetness and spice. Hoppy beers are not my favorite and with the first smell, I turned up my nose, but after taking a sip I understand the ratings. This is a very good beer. The hops aren’t as present in the flavor and it is very smooth, not at all bitter as I expected.

22 oz. bottle. Pours medium red with generous head. Satisfying aroma does not portend the strength of the flavor. Smooth with an extra kick on the back end. Stands among the other strong, medium colored ales we’ve come to expect from the best microbrews.

Excellent! Full flavored, well finished and warming. It pours a frothy biscuit head with a dark amber cloudy body. You can smell the pleasant mix of yeast and malt. First flavor is warm sweetness, peeling back into the hoppy bitterness. Has a slightly woody flavor.

Aroma is nice, chocolate, raisin, cinnamon, and moderate hops. Pour is a cloudy light amber with some bottle conditioned particles floating around. It tastes like it smells at first, and then finishes on a bitter/sour note. Very yeasty on the finish and could do with some aging to settle down the flavor. Nice creamy texutre.

Pours a clean ruby red body with a large 2 1/2 finger sticky off-white froth. Strong hop aroma with an equally large malt backbone. The flavors are quite sweet and syrupy at first with a big bready flavor that completely buries the hops until the finish when I’m finally getting some really nice resiny citrus notes. Feel the heat a little bit also.

22 oz bottle from Plaza Liquors. Pours a murky mahogany with nice head. Nice hop aroma and fruit and esters. Great flavor of some of the same and nice maltiness to go with the hops. What a nice beer!!

Nice hop aroma with a strong malt backbone (biscuits and caramel). Dark red pour with a huge light tan head that leaves strong lacing behind. The hops are more subdued in the taste, leaving some caramel and sugar notes to peak through. Fairly syrupy mouthfeel, very little alcohol noticeable in the taste. Overall, a very fine beer. (As a side note, my bottle said it was 8.5% ABV).

Pours copper with great red and amber hues, large off white head that billows up with mountainous peaks. Worthy of a picture. Rich caramel malts and ton of west coast hops on the nose, with undertones of tea, citrus fruit candies, toffee, and booze. First taste is of sugar covered ruby red grapefruit cubes, with a caramel / toffee malt balance. Mouth feel is medium, and clings to every surface inside your mouth, giving way to a moderately dry finish. Just enough to make you thirsty for that next sip, which brings more caramel and toffee, a touch of butter, and more citrus fruits that begin to lose their bitter edge with each sip. The further down the bottle you go, alcohol becomes more present in taste and smell, but never overpowering. Malty sweetness develops further throughout while the hops mellow out yet lose no flavor, leaving this to be one hell of a brew.