Retro Red

Thank's to Logan Beausoleil for picking this up and allowing me to taste it while we hung out at his cousins house in Glenview. Tasted during an evening following an easy practice midweek while studying for parasitology and of course, logging this beer.

Appearance: Almost no head aside from a sticky residue of bubbles floating on the surface and making a coated white ring on the glass. The beer is brown with a dark reddish hue. Still some amount of clarity is there, but also a paralleled haze. Not much movement by way of carbonation going on in this one.

Aroma: Dark and almost maple syrupy in aroma. Caramel and toasted malts accomplany, along with a brown sugared character. Maybe some chocolate.
Taste: A lot smoother in taste than I expected, and less of a bite at the end. I see this beer emphasizes sweetness as opposed to hopping. The adjuncts and other malt bases create a nutty flavored red ale with strong elements of maple and chocolate contributing to the sweetness in the foretaste. Definitely falls on a heavy toasted malt profile than other red ales. The hops aren't used too well in this beer, as I sense some really grassy flavors in the dried aftertaste. Furthering the initial sweetness, it is choked full of raisins dates, plum skins and figs, while mixing with the toasted malt creating a totally unique beer.
Mouthfeel: Thick chewy body with minimized carbonation. The texture is full and even a bit tacky. I do find minimal fizzed spikes mostly on the tip of the tongue. Crisp finish for such a full body

Overall Impression: An interesting red ale with a unique graininess and sweetness uncommon to many. I find myself perplexed though by the complexity and all the different flavors JUST in the malt sweetness. Little is left to the final hops aside from the slight grass aftertaste. 


81/100