Hoppy Red Head
Ellersick Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from a can into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a medium to dark red amber with a half finger light khaki head with good retention and light lacing. Aroma of caramel and light biscuit malt, grassy hops with an interesting root beer herb component. Flavor is biscuit malt with a slight toasted element, grassy hops. Finishes with fresh grassy hop bitterness with a little hay. Medium bodied with a pleasant light creaminess; lightly carbonated like a cask ale. Looks and smells like a domestic red ale, but the flavor is definitely British, as presented. An interesting hybrid of an ESB malt body and more Northwestern hops, slightly more hopped than a traditional ESB and better for the change. A nice English styled ale. I'd like to try other offerings from this brewpub.

 

 

 

Had this on-tap in a pint glass at the Big E brewery.

Appearance: rich amber hue with a nice haze. Head was a super thin layer of tan foam; kind of a risk you take with draft beers.

Smell: mild malt aroma which is minimally present. Could be serving temperature, but the aroma didn't improve much with warming, either.

Taste: pretty much as-advertised, and to good effect. Rich caramel malt flavor is complemented by citrusy hops in a pretty damn tasty blend.

Mouthfeel: medium body with somewhat low carbonation. Pretty decent but not that exciting.

Overall: this is a pretty tasty and highly quaffable brew. I like it, despite its aromatic deficiencies.

This looks more like a Red Ale than an ESB, but the brewery calls it an ESB so here we go. Poured a pretty red color with a nice off-white head that had good retention and lacing.

The aroma was a nice blend of malt scents with just traces of hops in the background. The flavor was malty upfront with a sharp spicy taste on the finish that I had a hard time placing. Was it hop spicyness, a yeast flavor or actual spices? It had sort of a cinnamon taste.

The body was decent, fairly typical for the style. Drinkability was OK. I'm going to try a couple more of these and see if my opinions change.

This red ale is brewed to the ESB tradition as evidenced by the clear bronze body, woodchip bittering, and undercarbonation. A slight vanilla aroma offers some preliminary enticement and the beer ultimately balances as satisfying. Though there's no overt excitement here, the Red Head is inviting of another pint. No faults, no frills, no regrets.