Bristol Red Rocket Pale Ale

Poured with no head and little carbonation. I’m wondering if I got a bad bottle. This tasted very metallic on the front end and had a lingering, roasted malt aftertaste, with little hop flavor at all. I had expected a big hop flavor, because many of the Colorado brewers are extreme-hopping even their pales. I’m fine that there wasn’t a lot of hop to this--it’s more in keeping with the pale ale style. But it’s the watery, metallic taste that is ultimately dissatisfying.

Clear copper color with a 1 finger head. Mild aroma of cascade hops and bready malts. Nice taste of caramel sweet malts with a nicely bitter pine hop taste to finish. 101606

This is a good APA but tasted much better at the brewery than it does in the bottle. The hop character is aggresive for a pale ale but it’s to my liking.

Bristol Brewery, in an sweeping act of magnamity, has traditionally and generously provided Colorado College with vast volumes of beer for special occasions. Their brews have been available at class events, sporting events, even bagel events. Usually the fare is two or three of their more widely distributed beers like the Laughing Lab or Beehive. But on a recent class event the Bristol staff came forth bearing a keg of their Red Rocket. In the last two years at this college, where I had invested considerable time and money into the enjoyment of beer, I had consistently rejected the Red Rocket, putting it to forebearance to wait. Bristol would always offer something better, something seasonal and something riveting. Red Rocket somehow seemed prosaic and parochial, locked into production either by marketing gurus or by meeting minimum sales. But as long as there was a plastic cup freely filled with it I was more than willing to give it a try. Coupled with a hotdog and a dry patch of grass I made the best of it. Thanks to the generously wide brim of the plastic collegiate drinking cup the aroma vent rapidly approached my nose, boasting of caramel sweetness, hops and well toasted grains. The roasted sugar bolsters the gaseuous charge with a cool and mellow orchard aroma, keeping the drinker well aware of the beer in hand. The meandering colossus of roasty, caramel sugar invades the flavor too, painting the tongue with a thin layer of dark and mellow sugar. It then quickly subsides leaving the whole grain flavor to regale the tongue with its hackneyed and well worn tales. The hops, rye and wheat are indeed common flavors, but show a curious strength in Red Rocket’s aftertase. Lightly they rest on the tongue where, after couching themselves in the taste buds, begin to grow in intensity and strength. Long, long after the beer has taken a direct route to the stomach, the grain medley occupies both the drinker’s mouth and mind with its poignant presence. Then all at once it sloughs off, like too much frosting on cake, leaving behind an airy and wheaty vaccuum. With its bold and monomaniac flavor the Red Rocket seems eerily similiar to the Laughing Lab, but it is important to remember that they still occupy two very different flavor spheres. Laughing Lab is deeper, with added emphasis on its Scottish flavors. Meanwhile, the Red Rocket is a candidly simple single and sipid flavor which will pair well with a meal. And matched with a hot dog, for free, it’s a darn good deal.

Had this beer on 2/24/1999. Color is a nice nut brown with low carbonation and very little head. Aroma has light malt tones and good hop scents in it. Taste good but a bit flat. It starts with a medium body that seems a bit heavier than it is because of the carbonation being low. Goes down smooth with the hop flavor coming out right away. The finish is a light malt flavor with strong hop flavorings and a mild hop bitterness.