8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Got in a trade with The-Adjunct-Hippie. 12 ounce can into pint glass, no can dating. Pours slightly hazy/cloudy ruby reddish copper color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky light khaki head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice dense soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of caramel, brown sugar, toasted biscuit, roasted nuts, and brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of toffee, cocoa, plum, pear, red apple, herbal, wood, grass, pepper, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop notes; with good strength. Taste of big caramel, brown sugar, toasted biscuit, roasted nuts, and brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of toffee, cocoa, plum, pear, red apple, herbal, wood, grass, pepper, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, woody, grassy, peppery, roasted bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of caramel, brown sugar, toasted biscuit, roasted nuts, brown bread/crust, cocoa, plum, pear, red apple, herbal, wood, grass, pepper, and yeast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and no cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering bitterness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/grainy, fairly sticky, and lightly chalky mouthfeel that is great. Slight lingering resins through the glass. Minimal warming alcohol for 6.5%. Overall this is an excellent Irish red ale! All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/drying finish; nicely soft feel. Very clean and rich English malt complexity; restrained fruity yeast, and balancing earthy hops. Light residual sweetness with lingering dryness. A very enjoyable offering. A bit more bitter/drying than expected, but still spot on style example.