McFarland Red

Brewed by Heineken Italia
Style: Irish Ale
Milano, Italy

Serve in English pint

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Non capisco chi l’ha votata prima... perché vi piace? Cosa vi colpisce di questa birra vuota e banale?

Tried this on two occasions at Johnny’s Pub in Rhodos Town (Greece). Slight malty smell, bit of caramel. Disappointing taste and mouthfeel, I expect more of a red. Not too much of hops, the sweetness of the malt leaves to be desired, kinda "flat". An unassuming lager-like red, nice on a summer’s day terrace, but that’s about it. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Hints of malts and yeast in the nose. Gold/bronce colour. Light taste of yeast, malts and tiny hints of hops. Very thin. Refreshing, but boring.

Di colore ambrato/rosso intenso, appena versata sviluppa una schiuma compatta ma non troppo persistente. Al naso, la McFarland propone profumi di malto tostato e miele (più in evidenza), seguiti da sentori fruttati. Assaporandola si coglie un’iniziale effervescenza, subito sostituita da un gusto leggermente amaro e caramellato.

Hi everyone. My score is basing only on beer I fell in love with 10 years ago and unfortunately(?) never drank since. But reading your comments I’d rather jump on the bandwagoon than heroically defend this one. I believe the standards of (mainly) lagers brewing dropped drastically over last few or more years almost everywhere but commercial force get stronger and stronger. Thus brands keep their beerdrinkers thank to the amount of adverts but not due to their taste. Not many beer drinkers would pay more for unknown small brewery bottle of something they ve never seen on daft telly so judging the quality of product by number of tv showings they pick one which all people drink or which is "probably the best beer in the world". This happens as in Poland where I come from as well in England where I live for couple years. Tyskie, Zywiec ( was addicted to it for long time... to its high naturally hoppy finish) and other big makes ve been bought by heineken/carlsberg and changed their brewing procedure. These moneygrabbers use cattle gall instead of real hops although for instance Lubelski chmiel just like czech one’s are one of the best hops in continental europe.. but damn it! It raises costs of production. Biggest problem is they don’t gamble much. Due to limited financial means at small producers they can rule market really effortless even pouring chemicals to brewing tub. Just like them 1/2 day growing strawberries; sow in the morning to pick em the same day evening. How come let say 5-10 years ago after 6 bottles of some beloved beer we had no headaches next morning? And nowadays after only 3 slowly drunk bottles the same lager our head is torn to pieces? So it looks like I must stop my search for forgotten and lost taste of McFarland beer. No lagers anymore apart from regional polish breweries, german, czech and belgian ones. Now sticking to vast palette of tasty english ale’s loads to recommend so I recommend something else Einstok icelandic white ale and some naturally fermented ciders like Lindemans Pecheresse. What I would dissuade is ciders like Strongbow, remember my first experience with it - that time most of brands was still printing ingredients lists on the bottles and what I read? Uuu real cider , instead of apples , citric acid haha so no sparks flying between us:)

If you ever see it in a supermarket or in a bar, just don’t choose it. I’m sorry for my Italian friends, but since I have moved in Italy, I just didn’t find a good italian beer.

0.33 bottle brewed in italy. Light amber wirh small head. Faint aroma of yeast, hops and sweet fruits. Sweet malty taste, caramel and cream.good carbonation, medium to light body.

#388 Sieht man mal davon ab, dass es nichts Genaueres von der Brauerei auf dem Label zu berichten gibt, außer "traditionally brewed under licence of Murphy Brewery Ireland ltd." ist das eigentliche Produkt ein klassisches Red Irish: Mild-malzig, leichte Holztöne, etwas hopfig-herb und vor allen frisch und wohlbekömmlich! Im Nachgeschmack zwar etwas dünn, aber dafür gut wegzurüsseln, hehe. Das Etikett mit dem Kleeblatt, den drei Windhunden und dem Märchenschriftzug ist zwar äußerst misslungen, aber das Bier geht in Ordnung - bis auf den Preis von 2 € für die 0,33l Buddel. Ansonsten bleibt nur zu sagen: Slainte!! Test vom 27.3.2007, Gebinde: Glasflasche Noten: 12,10,12,10,6,11 - 10,70

UPDATED: APR 15, 2013 One good soft red beer, amber color, sweet aroma and caramel notes in taste.