Ironwood Dark
Tied House Cafe & Brewery

Draft at brewpub. So far Ive been pleasantly surprised. This one leaves me unimpressed, very much so. Dark amber, small skin of head. Faint malty aroma, barely there. Taste doesn’t improve things much, more cola than beer. Mildly sweet and nutty, but not enough to save this.

 

 

 

a nice full-bodied dark beer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beer has a nice amber brown color. Almost no head was present on the pour I got at the brewery (which was a tall pint).

The beer had a fairly strong roasted aroma with a touch of sweetness.

My initial reaction to the taste was chocolate, but then I started to get other roasted flavors. Some molasses and fruity flavors as well. No real bitterness to speak of.

The beer is fairly thin and goes down easy. Minimal carbonation, which is to be expected in an English style beer.

This beer grew on me as I drank it. Would potentially order it again. Would be a great beer for friends that are new to the craft beer movement.

Pours a deep red colour with good clarity. Unfortunately there's very little head whatsoever. No lace, no retention in the head. Surprisingly deep body, however. It even sustains some static carbonation when swirled. It's weird, but true. Otherwise, it's a very average looking beer, however.

Minimal toasted malt on the nose. There's very little else, perhaps a sweaty hint of salt and a slight soda water acidity. It's not that great, but it's not unpleasant.

Taste is indeed very weak. Some dark grainy notes on the front, backed by a slight sweetness of malt or honey. There's some hint of roast bitterness on the back, but it's very thin. Mouthfeel is extremely thin, but it matches up with everything else we've learned about this beer.

It's not great overall, but it is drinkable. But it ends up just being a thin veneer of roasted malt over a very mediocre base beer. It's not bad, but it's far from exciting.

(Sampler at the San Jose location)
Ironwood Dark is a mahogany ale with a small, creamy white head. The aroma is mellow and piny. The palate is pretty smooth and medium light; perhaps a bit chalky. The flavor is fresh and crisp... perhaps a bit disjointed?
(rated May 24, 2007)

Dark coffee-brown color brew with thin fizzy off-white head and minor lacing. Tart orange aroma with a hint of sour mash. It's thin bodied, fizzy coffee flavor with some charcoal and smoke kicking around. Some more mash comes to mind. Fairly easy drinking. A little peppery. Good enough to say, give it a try, but would probably go for some other Tied House flavors before reaching for this one.

The color was a light hazy medium brown with hardly any foam in the glass. There was no lace as I drank this beer. The smell brought up a faint hint of malts and citrus. The taste was the same as the smell. A faint hint of malt and citrus. What a dissappointment. This is a very week beer with no after taste of anything except a slight bitterness on the palate that takes away any malt or citrus that was in this beer!