Rag Top Red Ale
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

Taste: spiced, floral hops, mix with some sweet malts to balance out, cream mouthfeel. Copper/amber hue, semi clear, tall amber head and ringed lace. medium body. Paired well with spicy tacos. 40 IBUs

Had this on 2017-12-30 at the Warrenville, IL brew pub. It's a tasty, easy drinking Amber that was well-fermented. I'd have this again.

 

 

 

Appearance: Little to no head with medium lacing. The deep garnet color is the highlight of this beer's appearance.

Smell: Rich malt smell. I detected cinnamon and candy apple aromas.

Taste: Roasted malt flavor and sweet at first. The taste develops into solid hop flavors and finishes with a nice bitter aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: Thin

Drinkability: Try it when you go to Rock Bottom.

I had this one on tap at the Rock Bottom in Warrenville, IL on 01/03/2008.

A= This ale poured a clear, medium to dark red color with a 3/4" light tan head. The head quickly dropped to just a skim and left minor lace down my glass.

S= I found aromas of sweet caramel malt behind a huge sulfur off-aroma. Not sure where that was coming from but it was certainly in the way. Very faint hops in there too. Pretty subtle and nice except for that sledgehammer of sulfur.

T= Flavors of caramel malt and roasty grain were dominant. There was a slight nutty quality in there too. Citrusy hop bitterness was subtle and balanced well against the sweetness. Finish was smooth and showed little alcohol.

MF= Medium bodied with a creamy feel on my tongue despite the very active carbonation level.

D= Very drinkable and highly sessionable. I just wish that sulfur smell was a bit more controlled.

Sampled at the La Jolla location on 12/12/08, reviewed from notes, my buddy Nathan who I was there with enjoys this beer quite a bit, I did not exactly agree with him though, color was a clear medium orange color, 1/2 inch creamy white head, some lacing but disappeared quickly, smell was almost non existent with toast, caramel, mild hoppiness, and straw, flavor was very watered down with a weird roasted malt flavor that did not seem to fit in with the style, mostly malt in the taste and needed something to provide some balance and substantial flavors, mouthfeel was thin and malty, too much carbonation, thin bodied, no lingering tastes, could drink a fair amount of this but no reason to with the limited taste, would not drink again

Served as a medium reddish-amber colored beer with modest slightly oof-white puffy head.

Smell has a nice caramel aspect, but only very light.

Taste follows throught on the caramel, but adds enough hops to make it interesting.

Great taste retention with the perfect melding of hops and malt.

Well done. Could be nice to session.

this rates higher with me than it would were it not fresh in a growler. bottled in a store, there would be plenty of better selections, but when i crave a fresh session beer this is an old standby. also this is a beer that can move someone towards better micros and further away from macros. appearance is a hazy reddish brown with a light tan head. bouqet is nothing that will bowl you over but you can detect some caramel malts, lightly roasted nuts, vague fruit, and vague hop aromas. taste is of a light malt sweetness and just enough bitter hops and roastiness to balance. naturally and not overly carbonated. finishes crisp and the freshness is notable. creamy mouthfeel is richer and fuller-bodied than you would think for this abv. could drink a number of these. the abv changes, it is currently at 4.9%.

The Ragtop Red Ale pours from the growler a deep amber red color with great clarity and a light khaki colored half inch of foam atop the brew. Does look nice in the glass. Aromas of camalized grains along with a slight underlying toffee and nuttiness. Herbal, citric hops make themselves known in the mix, but are a bit mellow. Nice overall.

First sip brings a roasted grainy maltiness accentuated with a nice caramelly nuttiness. Crisp and clean with an nice herbal, citric hop. Finishes through with a apparent fruity flavor and a mellow bitterness. A nice brew, but I would have like a touch more bitterness myself.

Mouthfeel is smooth, creamy and medium bodied. Steady active carbonation races across the tongue. This would make a nice session brew and I could see it complementing some lighter food quite nicely. A likeable brew overall from Rock Bottom Warrenville.

This is the flagship beer, and it's actually pretty good. This tap version is a red amber color with an average head. The smell is floral and mild. The menu says it's Hallertau. Mild bitterness gives way to a medium to full bodied maltiness. There's a bread and biscuit flavor in there, but it's not grainy. Finish is more sweet than dry. I'm glad I like their flagship beer. See my other review of the cask conditioned version, which gets more points because the head looks better and the aroma is better (from the dry hopping)