Red Baron Ale
Blue Hills Brewery

Poured into a becher pint glass, the appearance was a light amber color with some light orange streams along the sides. Finger’s worth of white foamy head sat atop and fell off at a decent pace. The aroma had some brown sugar, lightly roasted nuts, touch of floral hops, light earthiness and some dried sweet grass. The flavor had a little bit of sweet, but that came across really dry and "unannounced" with a dry malty aftertaste and finish. The palate was about medium bodied, perhaps just a little under with a fairly clean sessionability about it. Carbonation felt good. ABV felt appropriate. Overall, pretty good Irish red ale worthy of having again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red Baron Ale (brewed, incidentally, only 3.5 miles down the road from me) has the sort of rich, malty nose that promises a good drinking experience: thick, bread-like notes (think fresh wheat baguettes); hints of chocolate malt, or at least deeply-toasted grains; caramelized brown sugars; and wheat.

On the tongue, the beer brings an instant grain-and-sugar combination that is quite complex, the grains tasting like Grape Nuts cereal and, again, baguette, and the sugars having notes of not only brown sugars, but apple, fig, and apricot fruit esters. A good amount of spice fills the interstices, bringing some peppery tones, but also clove. The hops are just noticeable as a background fuzz, neatly balancing the brew. In the late mouthful, after the sugars die off, a heavy grain base erupts, like biting into a Shredded Wheat biscuit. The aftertaste is largely grains, and lingers for a few seconds. Mouthfeel is medium, and carbonation is medium.

Overall, this is great beer, especially considering the scale of the brewery, which only brews twenty barrels at a time. True care and craftsmanship obviously go into every one of those barrels, and the result is well-worth seeking out.

poured from a 22oz bomber into a 25oz mug. Pours a murky reddish brown with a 1/4 inch tan smooth head that dissipates into a 1cm cap that doesn't go anywhere. Aroma is malty and sour notes of caramel with a bitter/sour finish can't quote pinpoint the exact aroma.

Taste is very sweet up front with hints of butterscotch and very tart with a lactic finish of almost sour milk that is a bit off putting. Smooth mouthfeel with nice carbonation. To me not a very drinkable beer had trouble putting down the 22oz bomber.

Overall I preferred the look and smoothness of this beer over the taste and would not seek it out again, although that doesn't seem like it will be an issue since it appears this beer is no longer brewed. I will definitely look to try some other offerings from this brewer though as this was my first and they are fairly local to me.

Poured from bomber high into wine glass. Head was big, dirty-white & super frothy. Deep maple brown, clear and filtered with no rising carbonation. Head has dropped and left moderate lacing.

Tolerable sweetness in front of a smoky wood aroma, almost barrel aged. Slightest hop aroma deep down, earthy.

Taste is well balanced, malt and bitterness meet up well throughout - but bitterness has a slight win in the finish. There is a fruity, almost over ripe banana evident.

Finishes medium, fairly crisp and easy to drink. There is a tiny astringency but acceptable.

A good brew overall, i think it would pair well with any type of bar food.

Pours a deep red maple syrup color. There wasn't too much head but it left a nice lace that stayed the whole way down.

Very sweet semi dark malts with slight vanilla and something else I really can't put my finger on.

The initial taste is very smooth, rich and malty with the vanilla slightly there. It leaves a very unique fruity taste almost like a freaky juicy fruit. It leaves a faint dryness with a bitterness that surprisingly did not hit for a while.

Overall I liked it. It had a good carbonation and some great character.

22oz bottle purchased at somewhere local in MA.

Poured into an imperial pint glass, formed a 1/4" beige head over the cloudy reddish amber brew. Head dwindles quickly, with leggy lasting lace. Aroma is sweet and lightly fruity, bubble gum perhaps.

Taste follows the nose, sweet upfront, bubble gum fruitiness in the middle, with a moderately bitter close. Mouthfeel is smooth, with okay drinkability. Fruitiness too pronounced here, but overall not bad.

It pours a creamy fluffy 2 finger head that fades semi slowly over a hazy murky darker bottle brown color with touches of reddish purple hue.

THe nose starts with some toasty and roasty malts, reddish malts mostly. It has a dry attenuated aroma as well. Then there are hints of infection, with a light sour funky wild tangy wild yeast. The original beer is still prominent, so it's early enough and I'll still attempt to review it.

The taste has even less infection, just a very slight hint of a funky wild tangy taste, but not much. If I waited much longer it would be gone. There is a light malty taste, some toasty malts, reddish malts, a little dark caramel and slight roasty flavor. A very slight bitterness with hint of hops. It's also got a slight creamy flavor to it. A pretty bland beer overall.

The mouth is medium to lighter body with lower carbonation.

It finishes slightly bitter with more hops coming through here but still very light. It dries quite a bit too, not sure how much of that is attenuation versus the onslaught of an infection. There is almost no remnants of the contamination on the finish, but lots of lingering creamy and toasty malts, reddish malts with a slight roasty flavor too.

I've had this before without contamination, and this just brings me back to the beer I remember, very bland, light, nothing much going on. A drinkable beer, but mostly just blah! I know Irish Red is far from my style of beer, but this is just too boring. Far from their best beer.

Color is a nice medium-deep amber with good off-white head and carbonation. Lots of sediment floating around inside. Aroma is lightly sweet and malty. Flavor profile is good and malty with medium body. The yeast adds some tartness. Overall, a very decent brew from Blue Hills Brewing.

Brownish color with a slight red tint. The head departed quickly on this one. Minimal to no lacing throughout. Sweet malty aroma. Has a bready smell as well along with small hints of hops and chocolate. The taste follows along the same lines. I kept getting hints of the chocolate or coffee flavors and would start thinking I was drinking a brown ale. Low carbonated mouthfeel. Slight bitter and grassy aftertaste. Wanted to try this to "support local brewers" but probably won't grab for it again.

22 oz bomber. Coppery amber with slight haze. It had a fine white cap, about an inch after the pour, settled to a thin layer in a couple minutes, but left behind sticky sheets of bubbles on the glass. Malty aroma, bread and caramel, light fruitiness, faint hops and spice. Light bitterness, balanced with maltiness. Toasty and bready, less caramel than in the aroma, cereal grains. Mild fruitiness in the finish, faint citrus, with a short linger of bready malt. The carbonation was very creamy and a little on the high side. While this gave it a nice texture, it brought the drinkability down a bit. Medium bodied, dry. Pretty good, quite malty.

22oz bomber (no pun intended - get it? "Red Baron").
A) Pours with a big head that sticks around. The body is clear. Amber and ruby in color. Mellow upward carbonation. Lacing is thin and sticky.
S) Caramel malts from the get go. Brown sugar. This is going to be a malt bomb!
T) Toffee. Caramel. Subtle hint of chocolate. Buttered toast. Some nut flavors. Just a hint of lemon in the finish with just a little bit of bitterness.
M) Very mellow fizz. Smooth. A pinch of chalky-ness /dryness. Medium body.
D) A great brew! I'd definitely have another one.

I decided to give this one a shot since I live fairly close to the brewery, I figured it may be nice to have a local brewery to pick up growlers from. Hopefully I picked a good one!

A: Pours a hazy tannish-brown with a slightly pink 1.5-2 finger head which gives way to a very slight lacing.

S: I wasn't able to identify any particularly dominant smells, but there were several minor smells which included a flowery smelling hops, light caramel and malts.

T: Definitely opens with a nice bready taste, followed by some light caramel notes. There is also some nice light malt and hoppy notes. Nothing spectacular, but definitely not bad.

M: Slightly carbonated, nothing too strong, feels good in the mouth, the feel definitely goes with the flavoring.

D: Very drinkable, though perhaps not in large quantities all at once. In reflection on my opening statement, I'm certainly not running back to the liquor store to pick up a growler of this brew, but I may taste Blue Hills' other offerings to get a sense of what they have.

Nice pinkish-beige head--starts three-fingers thick. Leaves good ring lace after each sip. Dark, warm amber color. Acceptably hazy.

Strong caramel malt aroma along with a touch of soured cream. Mild hop at the end of the smell.

An interesting brew: there's a sweetness to the beginning of the taste, but finish is dry. Mostly malt driven, but there is a good hop presence (more than the smell suggests). The milky sourness is more pronounced here. I find that to be the greatest distraction. Decent body and carbonation. Leaves a long, sour aftertaste.