Southern Tier Big Red

Bottle 1pt. 6fl.oz. @ home.
Clear medium red amber color with a average to large, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to light heavy malty, caramel, spicy, light notes of chocolate, moderate to light heavy hoppy, grass. Flavor is moderate to heavy dark chocolate sweet and bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20090126]

Reddish/orange with a slight brown hue. Barely any head. When I was actually able to produce some head it was slightly off-white in color. Pretty good looking beer. Too subtle (in terms of flavor) for me. I am confused, the hop flavor leaves an almost pilsner-like taste in my mouth?! A very sweet flavored beer. Honey flavor with a slight bittering hop at first. The beer is very creamy. This is not what I expected for an American Strong Ale. Very sweet malt aroma with little hop aroma coming through. The beer is pungent, but again not the aromas I was expecting. Overall, a weird experience for me. I thought this was going to lean more towards an imperial/double, but that wasn’t the case. Its lacking hops...in my opinion.

Bottle. Looks neither big nor red. Aroma malty, grainy, sort of toasted, kind of wheaty. Flavor is corn syrup-gummy candy, some toffee and grains as well to keep things a bit interesting. Pretty poor.

Bottle. Pours a clear amber with a small off-white head. Aroma of sweet malt, lemon, raisin, alight booze, some oxidation. Flavor is sweeter, with lots of malt, iced tea, prunes, and raisins. Not very good, not hoppy either. Could be an old bottle, but I’m really not sure. Meh. 6/4/5/3/12 (3.0/5)

BOTTLE: another solid beer from Southern Tier. Dark orange/red pour, Aroma is malt, sugary, and some noticeable hop aroma as well. The taste is very intriguing - instead of the malt just mellowing out the hop, it seemed as though I could taste both malt and hop distinctively, both of them bold.

Wow, what an interesting beer. It pours a dark burnt orange with a thin white sticky head. The aroma is malty, with some odd fruity notes, floral, and a bit of hoppy resiny pine. The flavour is good, malty upfront, burnt sugar, melding with hop citrus bitterness in the end. Long dry hoppy finish.

Bottle sampled at DLD ’09 thanks to a distributor who just dropped a mixed case of ST and New Holland bombers at our table and said "enjoy". Thanks man! Cloudy red/amber pour with a medium beige head. Aroma is predominantly malt, but there is some piney hop balance. Flavor is about the same. A lot of people don’t care much this one because they want a hop bomb, but it’s right down the middle in terms of balance.

Unfortunately I think the bottle I had had suffered from improper storage at Total Wine and More in Richmond, Va. Pours ruby red with a darker brown color. Also just less than half an inch of head. Light to medium bodied. You get a hint of hops, malts, and a sweet kind of candied taste hidden in there.