22oz bottle picked up at Country Wine and spirits
Appearance: Clear amber with a mediums sized beige and some lacing
Aroma: Citrus and fruity
Taste: Fruity, citrus, light caramel with a mild finish of pine resin
Very nice

Valentine’s 2013 bomber, drunk 2/17/13. Fresh pine and candied citrus notes greet the nose the second the cap pops off. Smells good, especially if you like PNW hops. Pours to a fluffy, off-white head on top of a "beautiful crimson color"ed body. Clear. Toasted malt flavors mix with tangy grapefruit and resin hop notes. It’s funny, I haven’t had an AleSmith beer in probably, wow......5 years?? They don’t have the stuff on draught in Boston and if you only drink at bars (cut-out buying rare/expensive bottled beer for the past 5 years), you never get to drink it (and I can’t open the old bottles I have because they’re worth more than my goddamned car now (just kidding, I don’t have a car)). Ahem, anyways, I’ve never loved AleSmith for their hoppy offerings (crazy, I’m sure) and this isn’t really any different for me. But the quality hasn’t gone down, that I can tell. Now that I’ve lifted my ban on rare/expensive bottled beer, Speedway is high on my list to go try again. Hopefully that stuff is as good as ever. As a sidenote, the beer is filtered, which most beers that have to be shipped across the country in large number are. I used to get pretty up-in arms about filtration, and while in a perfect world, beer should never be filtered, no matter the style, having a little more insight in to the industry allows you to appreciate that it is a necessity quite often. So there ya go, I still enjoy going off on long tangents about nothing, in reviews. While I’ll probably never buy this again (nothing against the beer, just more a milestone (always like to try AleSmith beers that I haven’t before)), it’s nice to see this on the shelves in Boston. And now for the numbers, which I have almost no interest in entering, for whatever reason.

Bottle. Pours dark amber with off white head. Nose and taste of resin, caramel toffee, toasted malt, pine, citrus and grapefruit. Medium body.

Acquired in a trade. Enjoyed at fridge temperature in a tulip

A - Murky reddish brown, nice stout-like 3 finger tan head formed and reduced to half a finger pretty fast.

S - Very hop forward and dry hopped on the nose. chinook and simcoe and centennial. Lots of grapefruit and pine needles.

T - Nice up front clean and bright bitterness followed by an english malt backbone but finishes with a thump like stale water from a week old thermos. Sort of a candied sugar taste as it lingers around.

M - Almost a heavy body and drinks like a 9%+ ABV beer.

O - I love the nose and up front taste this beer delivers but it’s a thud of a finish.

Bottle. Pours beautiful clear deep red-amber with a small off-white creamy head that dissipates slowly with nice lacing. Aroma is floral, citrus, caramel, a touch of spice. Flavor is the same, light sweet and light to medium bitter. Medium body, creamy mouthfeel, bubbly carbonation.

Tap at PPCB. It pours cloudy, very dark red, with a thin beige head. The nose is leaf, grass, cherry, plum, pine and caramel. The taste is pine, resin, leaf, grass, caramel and some dark fruit (plum and raisin), with a dry, slightly warming finish. Alcohol is well hidden. Medium body and low/soft carbonation. Very easy drinking.

Draft. Rich amber beer with a tan head. Grapefruit and malt aroma. Grapefruit and light pine flavor with caramel. Medium bodied. Caramel and grapefruit lingers.