West Coast Red
Bristol Beer Factory

500 ml bottle conditioned, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 5.5%. Deep reddish brown colour, moderate off-white head. Lovely aroma of fruity hops, notes of red berries and citrus, some malts in the background. The flavour is hoppy and fruity throughout, but the bittering hops are fairly moderate. Still a nice bitterness in the aftertaste. Also notes of lightly toasted malts, hints of caramel and burnt bread crumbs. A well balanced and very tasty beer.

Pours copper with a large mousse-like head.
Nose shows toasty and nutty malt along with some caramel followed by some resinous hops and apple notes.
Less malt-focussed flavours although there's still some toasty notes. More emphasis on the piny, spicy and earthy hops. Very aggressive bitterness in the finish.
Carbonation is over the top.

 

Coming in a 500ml brown bottle, bottle-conditioned; BB 07/02/14, served mildly chilled in a straight imperial pint glass. Notes: The beer label describes this beer as having “a strong Pacific influence”, using “rich German malt to give a full body and a deep crimson gloss. Bitterness is restrained to enhance the strong malt flavour. This is balanced with an aggressive late flavour addition of the funkiest hops we could find”.

Appearance: pours a dark russet brown colour with bright ruby glows when seen against the light, coming with light haze, constant and healthy flows of tiny carbonation, and a well-lasting creamy layer of dark beige froth.
Smell: light notes of longan-fruits and aromatic citric hops sit on top of lightly sour-sweet toasted malts and bready malts, edged with prunes, other berry-ish fruity elements and faint nuttiness; a few good swirls wake up the late-hopping elements which are quite earthy and mildly grapefruity, but always kept in check by the overall deep aroma of sour-sweet fruity maltiness. Pleasant, but not pronounced.
Taste: healthily-carbonated, creamy-textured, the bitter-sweet foretaste is full of toasted amber malts with an intensity of burned sugar, then herbal and sprigy bitterness follows and goes deep down the palate, never too harsh, tannic, or resinous. A mild fruity palate of dark longan-fruits with a decent acidity lingers, but only just, along with restrained undertones of sweet grapefruits. Altogether, a very well integrated red-hued ale with malts forming a rich backbone, while the other fruity and hoppy elements do not seem to overwhelm on the flavour at any point.
Mouthfeel & Overall: brilliantly bottle-conditioned, refreshing as well as creamy on the palate, this is a super successful, medium+ bodied red ale, well rounded and nicely balanced.

A 500ml bottle with a BB of Oct 2013. Picked up a little while back from Trembling Madness in York. Described on the label as an American amber brewed with German malt and tons of hops.

Poured into a tulip pint glass. Bottle conditioned. A deep crimson-red with amber highlights, slight haze and medium carbonation. Produces a large head of creamy off-white foam with decent retention; this slowly reduces to a thick surface layer. Nice lacing. It looks stunning. Aroma of vibrant fruity hops with hints of grapefruit, citrus, pine and white fruits. Underpinned by sweet caramel malt, earthy yeast and hints of stewed hops. Delicious.

Tastes of caramel malt with an intense hoppy character and a powerful bitter finish. Notes of pine resin, juicy grapefruit, orange peel, citrus, mild white grape, caramel, subtle earthy yeast and leafy stewed hops. Highly attenuated, with a twinge of funkiness in the background and a forceful bitterness upon swallowing. Mouthfeel is tingly, smooth and creamy - almost silky, with pleasantly restrained carbonation and lovely body. The hop oils tease the palate. Pretty astringent, with an aftertaste of bitter aromatic hops, pine and earthy yeast.

Superb - another fantastic brew from the BBF. It looks incredible; the red hue really stands out. The aroma and flavour are amazing, with an avalanche of juicy hops supported by a robust malt backbone. The body is great (something that BBF do really well). A top-notch effort and a hophead's delight. Well worth sampling if you have the chance.