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Old Forge Brewing Company

Poured from a 16 oz. can. Has a pretty dark amber color with a 1 inch head. Smell is of malts, some pine. Taste is the same as the aroma, a touch of caramel, hoppy for the style. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is a decent beerand very easy drinking for the abv.

2017 release. Poured from undated 16 oz. can into Old Forge pint glass. It pours a pretty cola color with ruby hues and a half finger of creamy, ecru-colored head and lacing with excellent retention. The lacing thickly coats the inside of the glass. The nose is very subdued: mostly sweet malt and pine needles. The taste is fairly malty, earthy, and bitter with lots of pine and biting hops. The finish is dry and quite bitter. This ale is medium-bodied, fairly creamy, with moderate carbonation. The 2017's 7.1% ABV gives is substance. Overall, I enjoyed this. It would stand up well to a hearty meal but is also appropriate for casual drinking. I'd like to try this fresh on draught. Amber Ale/Red Lager is a fairly obscure style and I credit Old Forge with brewing a solid version.

Poured into a tall pilsner glass: color is amber with off white head with top of 1.5 inches; head dissipates with very nice lacing. Impressive.

Smell is big hop forward: piney, earthy, lighter grapefruit zest. Not much malt character but the hopping is impressive.

Taste is also huge hop character upfront; hopping is piney, dank, grapefruit zest. Malt is more noticeable on the finish of the taste with very nice, pleasant moderately strong caramel malt, light toffee coming through with warmth.

Mouthfeel is the hardest part to review of this brew... lingering bitterness is the strongest of any 'lager' beer i've had (+). So the softness and subtlety of lagering is not present (-). Lingering malt character is also present along with drying bitterness (+/-).

Overall, a nice brew - one of Old Forge's most intriguing - but hard to find the lager qualities among the hopping levels. Either way it's tasty and I'll look to find it again.