Dirty Old Red Ale
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

Lightly hazy light tawny. Dirty Old Red Ale looked more like peach iced tea than the expected raspberry iced tea. The head was impressive for a bar pour, probably due to the violent journey from cask to glass. It sported a gold-tinged ecru lid that towered above the top edge of the pint glass. "Looks like a milkshake" quoth the buxom barmaid, and I'll be damned if she wasn't right. Thick, chunky hunks of lace capped things off nicely.

The nose, while on the weak side, was better than decent. Balance was its strong suit, with pale malt combining with mildly fruity, slightly citrusy hops.

DORA was much lighter on the palate than expected. Perhaps it was the 'Old' that threw me. Perhaps subconsciously I was expecting the flavor and the mouthfeel of an old ale. If so, my subconscious couldn't have been further off the mark. Still though, wouldn't a red ale/old ale hybrid kick ass?

The beer was somewhat undermalted and delivered lightly toasted pale malt flavor rather than caramel malt flavor. The upper registers were fruity and slightly hoppy. It tasted, to some extent, like herbal tea. I don't mean herbal in the coriander or oregano sense, but something along the lines of those fruit teas that I occasionally buy and then never drink.

To be more specific, DORA tasted like the beer equivalent of lightly sweet tea that contains dried fruit peel, crushed rose petals and a few sprinkles of actual tea leaves for flavor and bitterness. There was more flavor on the finish. Unfortunately, the finish was too short to take advantage of that development. The mouthfeel was light verging on watery and the carbonation was subtle to the point of being nearly absent.

Dirty Old Red Ale is a drinkable summer brew that, if it's to be enjoyed to its fullest, must be imbibed solo. If paired with food, my fear is that it would disappear without a trace. An okay effort.