Ryan's Red Ale
Papago Brewing

The color is a brillanttly clear amber beer with really nice red hues, truly a red color unlike some other 'reds'. Head was fairly small and dissapeered quickly. Flavor was a toasty malt with a good amount of hop bitterness and flavor, more than what is typically in a Irish style Red but it works and makes for a drinkable beer. An easy drinking beer but one that can be considered a training wheel beer or a session beer. They call it an Irish Red but it is truly more of an American one.

Received a surprise free pint of this beer today to celebrate the impending marriage of Papago's manager. The color is a dark brownish red with minimal foam. Smelled mildly of a little bit of malt and spice. Tasted as it smells, very mild sweet spicy malt flavor. More seet that spicy. Moderate carbonation and fairly drinkable, but not really a great amber ale, a bit on the weak side.

The beer pours from the tap a somewhat fuzzy reddish amber with a decent two finger creamy white head that settles slowly, the lace a concealing sheet upon the glass. Nose has a rich sweet malt aroma, hints of fruit; I would say strawberries, with a bit of apricots, quite fresh and clean. Start is sweet malt with a touch of hops at the back, top is medium in feel. Finish has a sturdy acidity, the hops spicy in their bite, sweet to the end with a dry lingering aftertaste, quite nice beer, easy on the palate.

Poured from the tap with an initial head that is just over a finger thick. The head lingers for a bit and is a creamy pale tan color. The beer is a lightly hazy, reddish amber color. The aroma is dominated by malt notes, though all in all fairly light; I get notes of biscuit malt, some caramel/ toffee notes and a berry like fruitiness.

The taste is lightly sweet up front with a focused fruit note that reminds me of strawberries and a bit of something like a sweet plum. The beer is quite quaffable, it just slides down the throat and is almost too drinkable. It has a nice bitterness in the finish that does not quite balance the malt and fruit notes, but still is noticeable. As the beer warms up a bit it begins to pick up some notes of biscuit and toasted grain. In the end this is just so quaffable; the malt really start to shine after it warms up a bit; a mix of fruit and grain that is balanced by a true "kiss of hops".