Clear golden color with a thick and fizzy white head that dissipates steadily. Spotty lacing around the top of the glass. The aroma is faintly hoppy with a hint of malt. Light-bodied and crisp with a weak floral hops flavor supported by a surprisingly sweet undertone. Malty flavor stays there through the finish, making this one lean toward the sweet side throughout. The finish is rather short as well. Below average.

Cask. Golden amber ale with a thin cremay off white head. Sweet caramel aroma with notes of berries. In mouth, a sweet herbal malt, with treacle, lingering hops bitterness. Medium bodied. The Real Beer Expo - Rochester, NY, Oct. 21, 2006.

Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a medium brown color with a medium sized tan head. The aroma is faint sour nutty malts. The flavor is sour, nutty and roasty. Tastes more like a brown ale than an Irish Red.

12 oz bottle poured into a small goblet glass from La trappe (just bought the glass, it came with the Quad as a bonus). Pours a very dark red almost brownish. No head but a small lacing sticking to the sides. Smell is present - malt driven. Bready, sour sweetness of cherries and tangerines, and a roasty coffee aspect. Humm, even some chocolate. I am starting to "get" Irish Ales. This and the Hooker I had were both malt driven in subtle ways. Its not in your face but there. Taste is light well balanced in fruitness, coffee and sweetness. The aftertaste is amazing. A sweetness sticking to your tongue and cheeks. Nothing really strong but nice. Average mouthfeel and low bitterness.8/3/8/3/15.

Rerate, its been about 6 months since I had this, I feel like I am drinking from the same batch and it has changed for the better. The fruit flavors have vanished and the sweet chocolate flavors emerged. An ESB character with buterscotch sweetness is coming out as well. I am more impressed with the color, which is very dark but still red. This really is a good Irish Ale. 8/4/8/3/16.

Draught pint at Cambridge Common on 4/29/06
Medium-high clarity in this deeply blonde beer, with some lightly baked straw notes and a hint of amber. White head is lightly creamy, medium in size and quite well retained for a draught beer, providing spotty lacing.
Some sweaty hay, table sugar, and mildly spicy phenols (white pepper-like) are note initially in the nose, the pale malts coming off light, but fluffy, while the dry, hay-like hops add some complexity. Pepperiness on end nips at the nostrils, not too strongly and helps keep things in balance. Not really much in the way of heavy yeastiness or munich sourness (though there is a touch of light breadiness), more of a strong munich helles (but I guess that’s essentially what a blonde bock is, and who’s to say they need to use a large amount of munich malt). Some light creamy sweetness emerges as it warms, and the hops become a touch more crisp, still staying dry and straw/hay-like. Bits of fruit rise up as well, apricots, yellow-cherries and nectarines. Were it not for the crisp, clean yeast on the end (in the flavor) it would almost seem more like an ale yeast fermented at low temps.
The flavor is spicy again, leading to an almost perceived roastiness, though it quickly sinks in to the creamy, honey-rich maltiness, not heavily thick, but definitely notable of a long boil, with some preliminary caramel notes. Soft, moderate to low carbonation is not intrusive, but helps mitigate the sweetness. Light bock-like melanoidins and a touch of sourness, but it’s a very easygoing bock. Phenols are a touch heavy on the finish, as it warms, combining with some dry breadiness, and it begins to overpower the malt, but the carbonation helps keep things fairly well cleansed. I didn’t note any alcohol in aroma or flavor.

Draught pint at Sunset Grill on 4/27/06
Bubbly white head tops a straw-golden body with very faint amber tints. Head is poorly retained, but leaves blotchy lacing. High clarity.
Traditional nose, that is, cascade-like hops, showing restrained bitterness, with light lemons and oranges. Some sweatiness in there as well, seems out of place, and the malt seems a little light. Very pale grains, base malts show some light dough and straightfoward barley character, with white sugariness. It almost smells like they use English or European hops to finish or dry hop, but I can’t be quite sure, as there could be some specialty grain mixing with the hops to provide that character. Regardless, the dominant factor is by far the American hop citrus. Aroma is of moderate strength.
The flavor is lightly grainy, with some husky barley notes, and light sugars combining quickly with orange rind, floral notes and a bit of cheesiness, unfortunately. Yeast nuttiness is apparent, definitely unpasteurized. Bitterness is moderate to style, creating a lemon-icing effect when taken with the malts. Carbonation is high, and the beer has a good amount of water, with a seemingly short boil time leading to light sugar flavors from the malt. I wouldn’t go as far as to say undermalted, but it is definitely approaching a well-hopped golden ale. Citrus and some sweatiness are carried on in to the finish. Texture is somewhat watery, no alcohol noted in flavor or aroma.
Bottle consumed on 10/5/06.
Light sourness emanates forth with dirty, somewhat oldish hop notes. Light butter and cake icing even. Don’t remember all of the off flavors from the draught sample, but this is just too unclean and uninspiring. Couldnt finish the bottle. Watery, forced carb texture goes nowhere.

Bottled on 11/15/05 and consumed on 3/22/06
Deep burgundy-crimson, with some plum skin tones. Fairly vigorous pour yields a small, off-white head that sits at cover and ring. Smells rather fruity at first; cherries, prunes and a deep roastiness, not too dry, with ample caramel malt. The use of multiple malts seems appropriate and successful here, being able to pick each one out, as they don’t seem to crowd each other out.
The flavor is caramelly at first, with plenty of black licorice, walnuts, roasted malts (light) and a light melanoidin tone in the background. Almost black-currant like, but not as tart or dry as that sounds, thanks to a fair amount of pale/caramel malts. Great lacing all over the glass. A definite black maltiness to it, maybe debittered black malt. Hard, dark pretzel dough, cruncy and with a touch of sourdough-like notes, well aerated by the light, but ample carbonation. Fairly dry, but never lacking for maltiness. Smooth, lightly creamy texture. Playful fruitiness lingers on. No sign of alcohol. Had a bottle of this 2 weeks before and it was nothing like this one.

Dark golden ale with a thin white head. Strong diacetyl aroma, overpowers the hops. In mouth, caramelly hops with rather flat character, lingering with some nutty notes and a oily mouthfeel. Bizarre Ipa. On tap at the CNY Brewfest 2006.