Raw Series Red Lager
Tree Brewing Co.

355ml bottle poured into tulip 30/11/16

A almost clear ruby red when held to the light, short lived finger of foam leaves a single partial ring

S leafy and herbal hops, orchard floor before the snow flies, bruised apple and wet leaves galore, tea bag and caramel

T not much differs from the nose, caramels lean towards hard toffee

M light bodied, fluffs up and fattens out, some bitterness, slick as can be on the palate

O decent red lager, one of those beers that neither lacks or stands out in any department

It is what it claims, nothings wrong with it but nothings memorable either, worth trying but not seeking out, ect, ect, ect.......

355ml bottle, the latest in Tree's Raw Series of unfiltered beers (no. 6 and counting!).

This beer pours a clear (huh?), medium orange-brick amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and somewhat chunky beige head, which leaves some rearing sea beast lace around the glass as it slowly and evenly bleeds away.

It smells of bready and biscuity caramel malt, a lesser pale graininess, oversteeped black tea, a hint of bittersweet chocolate, muddled earthy spice, and a subtle leafy, weedy, and floral green hop bitterness. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, chalky cocoa powder, ethereal orange pekoe tea notes, a hint of biscuity toffee, faint generic spice, and a still tame earthy, musty, and grassy hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly low-key in its plain-Jane frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and generally smooth, nothing really trying to cause much of a fuss here, as such. It finishes off-dry, with a very pleasant biscuity maltiness carrying us out with style and aplomb.

Overall, if you didn't tell me what this thing was going in, I would have pegged it as a well-made ESB (sniffing out ale or lager yeast not really being in my wheelhouse) - that sharp, biscuity caramel malt, and noble-seeming spicy hop character fooling me once, that's for sure. Good stuff, whatever the hell it's called.