American Bold Ale
Vindication Brewing Co.

L: Pours a dark ruby red color with a small white head and a few fingers of lacing.

S: Caramel, some raspberry, and other berries mixed some floral hops, some earthy malt.

T: Caramel, some berries, mixed floral hops with a bit of pine and some earthy malt and a little bit of sweet honey.

F: Some prickly carbonation and medium to full body.

O: This is a nice red ipa type beer.

Some lacing over medium thick layer of tan foam. Nose of raspberry, baked cherries,, alcohol, red apples, malt. Palate of sweet ripe red apples, peanuts, raspberrys, red and black licorice, wheat bread crust, pine resin, lemon pith. Finishes bitter and pithy. Intensity is medium plus. Carbonation is spritzy and bubbly. Mouthfeel is rich and slightly coating. Pros nicely intense, good complexity, nice bitter finish. Cons not a big fan of the very strong red apple note (may be a fault), booze is a bit out of balance as well. 87/100.

 

 

 

 

Look: Amber brown with a tank foam head, lots of small bubbles, head lasts a bit and then turns to lacing
Smell: Hoppier than maltier, but definite presence of both. Smells a bit like a barleywine, with some roasty, toffee, sweetness
Taste: Hop bomb, malt bomb. This is like a milder version of a barelywine, with the roasted grain, dark fruit... and bitter, bitter, bitter. And despite all that, it's not too bad!
Feel: Intermediate heavy mouthfeel, somewhat creamy, thick foam. Medium carbonation.
Overall: Really wasn't expecting this, but it's pretty good. You can tell a lot of effort went into making it. Not a favorite, but for the style, I dig it.

 

 

This beer caught my eye in the cooler and I subsequently BA'd it on my phone. Picking up that it was a red ale and reading another review saying it was a little too sweet caused me to rub my palms together and smile nefariously, because I love hoppy, malty, sweet beers.

This doesn't disappoint in any of those departments. Having just come from a bar where I had a bigger ESB and proclaiming to my wife "You know, I don't really drink ESB a whole lot, but every time I do, I like it," I was maybe in the mood for something a little maltier. I'm going to cut the crap and skip describing, visually, what a "red ale" looks like, and go straight into the experience of drinking this one.

It has an herbal and almost cocoa, porterlike nose, which is really full, just vaping off malt and hop, a little smokiness to it. Unlike some other beers that promise big in the nose and fall short in flavor, this one does it all. I would say the cocoa doesn't come through as much, but just really malty, and it is sweet, and earthy. Mouthfeel is medium to thick, satisfying and syrupy. This would be a great beer for the fall, but still does it's job in 80° July weather.

 

Good beer

Appearance: Pours clear and copper with a couple of inches of foam capping; decent retention with a few strands of lace

Smell: Toasted brown bread and caramel; earthy, with stone fruit and mowed grass tones

Taste: Caramel forward, with toasted brown bread building the malt base; stone fruit flavors build and are joined by the grassy and earthy hops; there is a grainy, herbal and burnt bitterness that comes across aggressively, after the swallow and dominates the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation

Overall: A really interesting beer with some unique flavor elements; a bit too sweet, though, and the combination of the sweetness and the aggressive bitterness make this a beer that is better suited to a 12 oz bottle than a bomber; works well, but in a small dose

 

 

 

 

 

Grabbed this one on a whim while in Colorado. It's hard to choose among so many brews lining the shelves these days, but here's hoping for the best.

Dark brown with a glacial tan head that breaks apart in chunks. A candy sweetness comes to the nose in quick waves of caramel, toffee, brown bread and fruit. Tastes grainy with mincemeat in the middle and bitterness as an afterthought. Mouth-feel is soft and smooth with slight, rough edges at the very end.

A simple and unpretentious beer that serves as a perfect counterweight to unbalanced extremes.