Great River Roller Dam Red Ale

Brewed by Great River Brewery
Style: Irish Ale
Davenport, Iowa USA

Serve in English pint

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Can shared thanks to my friend DJ who obtained it from a friend Moline, IL. Deep reddish-brown ale with a clinging off-white head. Nutty, biscuity, bready nose. With some sweetness but balanced between sweet and dry. Faint off-ness; mild tart vegetal plastic presence. Some burn English yeastiness. Finishes dry. Overall okay. Likely better fresh on tap at source.

16 oz can poured into an English Pint Glass. Pours a clear medium amber with hints of red. Has a small off white head that dissipates rather quickly. Smells of malt, caramel, little bready and a little biscuity, some chocolate, and light grassy note. Tastes of malt, caramel, bread, and finishes with a spicy peppery hop taste. I’ve had many of these and this one has a less malty taste then most of the ones I’ve had. Carbonation is medium to high for style. Mouthfeel is on the low end for style but not bad. Good session beer but I’ve had better batches. To be fair I’ve had a lot problems with beer purchased at this location so I rated this beer more based on the others I’ve had.

Pours clear red... Aroma is not much..little apple floral malt..taste is apple some caramel..different....super bitter

Draft. Poured a clear dark orange color with a thin off white head. Smelled of subdued spicy malt with a whiff of apple. Light to medium bodied with prickly carbonation. Spicy malt with a hint of milk chocolate and subdued fleshy fruit.

A little to dry malt tasting for me, and I did not get the hint of caramel they claim. Not bad for a red ale, but not one I would have again.

Tap at Great River on Nov. 26, 2011. Clear light amber pour. Caramel malt, smooth....well done red.

Can. Pour is a fairly dark clear copper, not much head but decent sticky lacing. Aroma is pretty weak. Some caramel malt, maybe a touch of floral hops. Taste is caramel and crystal malts, some astringent floral hops, a lot of mineral notes. Odd dry finish, chalky, odd carbonation level. Watery. Just ok.

16 oz can.
Aroma: caramel, roasted malts, toffee
Taste: caramel, toffee, burnt sugar, slight hop presence in finish
This is a clean easy drinking red ale. Nothing fancy but overall not a bad beer.

Tap. Light amber pour, little carbonation and a slightly sweet aroma. Flavor was light malt, some more light sweetness and finished with some subdued caramel. Didn’t care for it much, but to be fair, it’s also not my favorite style.

Pours red with a nice tan head. Smell: cereal, caramel and a touch of chocolate. A light malty taste with some caramel and cereal grains and a slight artificial taste.

UPDATED: OCT 24, 2011 Draft sampler at Great River. 9/30/11. Color is more toward the amber brown than the 483. A maltier smell, yet it also smells "dry." Hops are low to let the malts come out, and maybe I should have sampled this one first, as I still a little hop hangover from the pale ale. But after a few more sips, I can finally get into the earthy English hop finish. A much different beast than the dry-hopped firkin I had below. --- Draft pour at Midwest Brewers Fest, Aug. 2011. Rating 8-2-7-3-14, total 3.4. This was a special edition dry hopped with Simcoe and served still from a firkin. Light brown with a lot of stuff floating in the glass. They were tipping the firkin to get beer from the bung in the middle, so I’ve got some debris here. Very big, catboxy smell: frusty, grapefruity and piny. The way us hopheads like. Taste is big hop juice. Grassy or dried hops, very little malt to back it up. Not too much alcohol. No carbonation. The low rating for appearance is simply because of the dregs in the glass.