Magic Hat Odd Notion - Irish Red Ale (Spring 08)

(draft, thanks acrdz) Medium beige head with nice lacing atop clear copper body. Aroma is moderately sweet, chocolate, toffee, light caramel. Taste is medium sweet, chocolate, some caramel/toffee, light earthy. Light-medium body, light stickiness.

Growler fill from New Beer Distributors. Aroma is lightly earthy and spicy, a light nutty maltiness. Earthy and lightly fruity and cherryish; a touch of cinnamon and cardamon over the earthy and lightly bready maltiness. A very light smokiness with some earthiness. There is a bit of soft berryish sweetness. It’s not bad, but it’s not great.

Pours clear brownish ruby with off-khaki head. Nose is caramel malt, brown sugar, cinnamon, and mild merlot. Tastes of caramel malt, brown sugar, hops, mild spices, fig, and red wine grapes. A unique representation of this style.

12 ounce bottle from City Market in Burlington, VT (March 2008) sampled a little below cellar temperature from a Unibroue glass. A stable, persistent light tan head bubbles slowly atop the translucent dried-blood body....faintly spicy and malt-sweet on the nose, a bit of brown sugar-caramel and vanilla....the cardamom is actually much more noticeable on the palate, giving the flavor a strong spicy zest and much more interest than the typical Irish, and it is well complemented by a very full body and a moderate sweetness and light woody character throughout....finishes somewhat sharp and hard, dry; low to moderate carbonation. One of MH’s better recent efforts.

Courtesy of CigarCityBrew. Pours amber with off white head. The aroma is all over the place with rich roasty malts, sweet malts, licorice, flower pedals, nutmeg, cherries and picnic basket. Wow, lots going on. The taste starts rich sweet and roasty with mild berry fruitiness, some rounded off tartness, mild earthiness, honey, flower pedals, sweet licorice candy, dark hard candy and ending with mild malt sweetness and grainy maltiness. Everything comes together pretty nicely for me here. Yum.

It’s red, as one might expect from a beer called Irish Red. Plus it has a nice white head, although that isn’t really addressed in the name at all. Toasty bready aroma, toasty, bready flavor. Not bad, but seems a bit bland. On tap at Bier Garden, Asheville.

On tap at Capital Ale House - Downtown. Clear amber body with a large creamy tan head. Sweet caramel and fruit aroma. Sweet grainy fruit flavor, light roasted malt and some spicy hints. Certainly odd for an irish red. Medium body with moderately high carbonation.

On tap at Smokin’ Joes. Spicy nose, with some ginger or allspice, an acidic currant-like smell and some mild brown sugar. Rootbeer brown, light haze, with thin off-white head that dissipates quickly. Medium watery body with medium-heavy carbonation. Starts fairly dry, with a nice spicy, holiday ale profile. Nutty bitterness, sweet spicy clove and allspice. Mild brown sugar, cocoa powder, and cherry bark. Carbonic acidity, with light nutty-sweet-ginger after.