Rudolph's Red Ale
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

 

Had this on tap at the downtown Boston location

Appearance: 1/4 inch head, clear, reddish brown in color, moderate carbonation

Smell: cinnamon and toasted malt

Taste: cinnamon dominates there is also some caramel, grain, nutmeg, and hops at the end

Mouthfeel: semi-sweet start with slightly bitter end, medium bodied, moderate carbonation

Drinkability: An average winter warmer. This one is as advertised, a spiced up red ale. Not bad, but nothing I need to get again.

Color is a dark orange-amber, and red. Held to the light it is clear.

Smell is of bit of Cinnamon, a touch nutmeg, and ginger. A light hop smell as well is behind the sweet profile of this brew.

Taste is light with a combination of the Cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger combing to bring a bit of Christmas flavor to this brew.

This a very well made beer. It is not strong and is a good beer for drinkers new to flavored brews.

I first tried this at the restaurant and decided to bring some home to have as a beer to trim the tree with. Great for the holiday season.

Pours a dark orangey-red.Small 2-3 mm head settles quickly. Very nice consistent lacing on glass.
Smell is mild but you can still pick up a nice balance of hops/malt with a touch of cinnamon and some other spices--cloves and allspice or nutmeg.
Taste is a very nice blend of an amber pale ale with these spices coming through in a subtle way. Nothing too strong or overpowering as some of these winter warmer type beers can be. It reminds you of Dentyne or Big Red gum with its chewiness. I just want to bite into this beer. The spices mentioned are also a touch on the hot or piquant side which affects the mouthfeel--in a good way. This is the best beer I have ever had from Rock Bottom.
Drinkability is good and better than average but typically these winter warmer types aren't attempting to be session beers anyway. I wanted to have more than one but due to time constraints I had to leave.

Note--the bartender told me that they make this stuff in a big vat on the stovetop.

Just had this at the Rock Bottom in Braintree, MA and was pretty impressed.This is a very nice winter warmer. It's just a tad overspiced for my liking but the balance between the spices is terrific, you can tell that the spice blend was mixed with attention to detail and not just thrown together. loads of cinnamon and nutmeg and rich bready flavors, as well as some ginger and pumkin. Unlike some other winter warmers, for example Harpoon's, once you've got through all the spices and aromatics you have a traditional, quality beer in your mouth and not some candied cider-like concoction. One note, if you do order this you'll want to know that they line the rim of the glass with brown sugar. If that's not your thing, make sure to tell them to hold the brown sugar.

Had this beer on tap at the Boston Rock Bottom in the Theater District after a long day of holiday shopping.

It poured a hazy reddish/brown body with a small white tan head.

The nose was quite amazing. Pure holiday spice. An overpowering cinnamon. Actually it was more of a strong cinnamon potpourri smell. Not so much flowery, but as it had been spiced exactly like a wintry cinnamon potpourri. Bizarre, but intriguing.

The taste was very smooth and easy drinking. A soft malt, and a very mild bitterness. The distinguishing taste though was PURE CINNAMON potpourri. They claimed it had nutmeg and other spices in it, but all I could think after ever sip was. "This beer tastes like something I might buy at Willams-Sonoma" Actually the bartender made mention that this was really just their North Star Amber with spices.

Overall I found it to be a great Holiday Beer. Right in line with the great pumpkin beers or spicy winter warmers. But I couldn't help but think with every sip, potpourri.