Briglin Road Red
Keuka Brewing Company

Pours a hazy red. Thin foam. Hoppy aroma. Big bitter hop body. Fades to a clean finish. Good hoppiness but could use a malt backbone. Not bad.

On tap at Fattey Beer Company in Rochester, NY.

This one pours a light amber-reddish color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells quite bitter and hoppy for the style, but not in a pleasant way.

I haven’t had a beer from Keuka Brewing in about 10 years, and I probably should have waited a bit longer. This is weirdly bitter and metallic tasting, with very little malt complexity of any kind. It just kind of tastes like a bad malty IPA instead of a red ale.

This is light bodied, with a lingering not smooth bitter finish. It’s not super drinkable.

There’s really nothing to suggest or recommend with this one – it was a

22oz bottle poured into a pint glass
A: Copper reddish/brown with a one finger head
S: Lots of nicely roasted malts, some caramel/vanilla and hints of hops and earth
T: A bit of a letdown. Initially matched the palate but turned somewhat metallic on the finish
M: Medium-bodied, a touch sweet, not a nice finish
O: I would be curious to try this fresh. It has promise and I don't think this bottle represented it well

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hazy light copper (SRM 11-13) with a modest, quickly dissipating, off-white, creamy head. Slight lacing is left on a Lost Abbey pint glass.

The aroma is overly malty with caramel and toasted nuts. I discerned no hop aromas, but did find raw oats and white bread dough.

The flavor closely follows the nose, while adding bitterness and a hint of grapefruit. Caramel and fresh bread are prominent while nuts linger in a bitter finish.

A medium body with dry spun cotton texture and modest prickly carbonation. No alcohol with a dry finish.

An easy drinking and enjoyable beer, one could consume this for hours with friends while relaxing on a shady porch on a warm summer afternoon. This would easily go well with spicy wings or fried cheddar.

This was served from a bomber at The Rabbit Room in Honeoye Falls, NY into generic pint glasses. It appeared a murky copper coloring, holding a finger’s worth of tan foam that showed okay retention. This left dripping vertical stripes of lacing around the glass as it quickly fizzed away. A heavy haze cut clarity, and the dregs of the bottle produced fat chunks of sediment that sank to the floor of the glasses. Carbonation appeared to be active, but only intermittently diffuse. The nose gave notes of dank English brown and toasty metallic amber malts, light banana esters, celery and tomato vegetals, bright strawberry and ripe red apple fruitiness, dusty board chalk, dry slate, slick mossiness, and light lactobacillus tartness as it came to room temperature. Our first impression is that the flavoring is very rustic at its core, showing an interesting and pleasant array of malts throughout. As we sipped, the taste began with tasty amber and pale grain, Concord grape and red apple juicy fruitiness, wheat bread yeastiness, oily citric hops, sweet pine needles, cantaloupe, and brushes of raw honey sweetness. The middle came to a head with slight clove and black pepper spice, milder medicinal phenols, grassy and green twiggy hops, dried floral and herbal tea crumbles, lime sherbet, cranberry sours, and flashes of that aromatic pseudo-Bretty yeasty tartness. The end washes through with basement mustiness, green grassy hops, pale and amber malts, continued peppery and curry spice bite, chalk, toasted rye and red malt, coiny metallics, and sweaty saltiness. The aftertaste breathed of light fruitiness of apricot, red apple, and dried red grape skins, flashes of maple sugar, bitter coppery metallics, herbal and piney hops, curious chocolate depth and roast of malt, raw rye and barley, kiwi furs, dried dates, and corn meal. The body was medium, and carbonation was hard and high to prickle. Slurp, smack, pop, and glug were all clean, but with less overt creaminess or foaminess at the onset of the sip. The mouth is met with refreshing cool crispness that evolves into a moderately drying chalkiness scratching across the most proximal hard palate. The abv is appropriate and sessionable, and the beer is easy drinking.

Overall, what we enjoyed most about this brew was its ultimate flavoring. This was robust and inclusive of numerous grains of varying complexity, each blending and bouncing in their own way off of the hops and the sweeter inclusions held within. On the other hand, there was a bit of an overrepresentation of the chalks and the metallics which, almost comically, are byproducts from the big and bold malt bill that we just lauded. This was also a particularly exciting review because it was completed at the probable venue for our wedding!! To fit the setting, this beer very much seemed appropriate to the place, with rustic, autumn, woodsy flavoring that went well with the cooled exposed stone and wood beaming, making you feel right at home.

 

 

22oz, no dating information (purchased Sept. '12)
Stella Artois glass

A: Pours a clear golden reddish color. Initally about a half finger of slightly off white head. There are some bits of lace that show up when you swirl. Seems to be nicely carbonated.

S: On the nose, I am mostly getting the dark nutty malts that you usually pull from Red Ales. Also some piney hops. Some breadiness.

T: As for the flavor, some pine hoppy bitterness on the tip of the tongue. Then that malty nutty notes come in during the middle of the sip. Tastes of caramel and toffee, but on a very mild basis. There is actually a slight touch of chocolate that I am getting. The finish is smooth and dry.

M: It's a light medium on the body. More carbonation might help.