Upland Ard Ri

Bottle courtesy Degarth. Pours a hazy copper with a small off-white head. Aroma of sweet malt, caramel, light fruit, and citrus. Taste is the same as aroma. Medium mouthfeel with a moderate amount of bitterness and well hidden alcohol.

This found its way to me via Eithcubes. Creamy off white head and a dark brown color. One of the more full bodied offerings from these guys so far. Smoky malt flavor with a bitter hop finish. Some chocolate and caramel in the flavors as well.

Thanks for sharing this Todd. The beer pours to a red brown body with a soapy tan head. The aroma is mildly yeasty with a strong malty specialty grain. The flavor is bitter resin hops, mild chalkiness from the hops too, and caramelized specialty malts. Cereals. The palate has a sweet buttery texture.

12oz Bottle $10.99 6-Pack Big Red Bloomington Bottled 2/08 This is an Irish-style imperial red ale. A somewhat aggresive pour produces a fingers worth of dirty white head over the top of a rusty red body. The body has some haze to it and the head leaves some thin patchy lacing on it’s way down. Not a bad looking brew. I can’t pick up much in the nose until I swirl and it comes alive for a minute or two until the next swirl awakens it again. You don’t usually hear it too often from Irish-style reds but this is robust. Caramel drizzled biscuity malt is big throughout. Somewhere in the middle a sweet bread of some sort pushes it’s way in but fades just as quickly. There is some sugary pineapple hoppiness on the backend but its faint and comes through just enough for some balance. A ghost like alcohol on the finish. The flavor follows the nose in stride. Toasty, biscuity, and caramel malts all mesh together nicely. Some of the pineapple and citric hoppiness show up mid-palate through the finish but just to balance things out. I have to give Upland credit. There is zero alcohol noticeable in the flavor, which is quite an accomplishment for a beer weighing in at over 9%. Healthy carbonation gives this beer an incredibly fluffy, velvety mouthfeel that’s unusual for such a monster. The body is on the bigger side of medium and really fits things nicely. Ard Ri goes down far too easy for such a big beer. The mouthfeel makes this a pleasure to imbibe. This drinks like a standard Irish red. Watch out, these could catch up to you in a hurry! Ard Ri ended up being a solid seasonal (St. Paddy’s Day) release. I’d pick this up again. I just wish I would have had it on St. Patricks Day, would have made the night even more fun! 3/22/08

Pours brownish red with a thin white head. Smells malty with some citrussy elements. Tastes slightly bitter and earthy with some spicy hints.