Local Shred Red
Alvarado Street Brewery

 

 

Can poured into an Alvarado Street Brewery Willi Beecher glass

A: Pours deep reddish copper with a frothy khaki head that settles to a firm layer and laces nicely.

S: Rich bready malt, a bit toasty, citrus, stone fruit and berries, a touch resinous and earthy, and some toffee sweetness.

T: First hit is rich toasty bready malt, immediately followed with a nice hit of citrus, grapefruit, orange, lime, and lemon, resinous, fruity undertones, peach, apricot, plum, and red berries, a little spice, a touch earthy, and some toffee sweetness.

M: Medium to full body, moderate carbonation.

O: You could probably safely call this a Red IPA, but I guess we'll go with an American Red Ale with a bit of West Coast flair. Really nice depth and balance. You can definitely see why it has taken home some GABF hardware.

 

 

Guest tap at Green Cheek in Costa Mesa, CA.

Just good. Pretty good. Not Larry David “Pretty, pretty, pretty good.” Just aite. It’s a very light and simple Red like the little train that could. Nothing to trip on, just solid.

Yep!

 

 

 

L: small foam head, burgundy red and slightly see through but very dark and amazing looking. Slight retention and lacing.
S: pine and a general wood/forest aroma, earthy tones here. Also getting malt (a different malt smell though) and carmel and some fruit that I can't distinguish (berries?) and some hints of slight alcohol. Wonderfully pungent and unique.
T: follows the nose here with that pine/earthy taste and unique malt that is really different than I have had and a semi sweet fruit (again can't distinguish) on the finish with just the right amount of bite from the ABV.
F: high on carbonation in a good way and very subtle dryness with a full body feel.
O: 2018 World cup of beer gold for a reason! Amazingly complex flavors. With a look to match and aromas that knock it out of the park. ASB did phenomenally well with this style and their take on it.

 

 

 

 

 

Canned 3/12/18, consumed 3/25/18

Poured crystal clear mahogany with a small head that left almost no lacing.

Aroma is citrus fruits, spices, some caramel malt, and finally piney and danky hops. A very nice, complex, intriguing mix.

Taste is even deep and heartier than the aroma, get dark fruits and berries primarily here instead of citrus, which is present but hangs back. Malts are also more up front and lightly toasty. Spices and hop flavors follow aroma.

Mouthfeel is medium, light carbonation, smooth, easy bitterness, clean & dry finish. Very refined.

Overall, a stellar red ale with a whole lot going on. Balanced, smooth, and really complex aroma and taste. IPA lover should definitely check this out. One of the best red/amber ales I've had.

 

 

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a medium to dark reddish coppery amber with a fine, half finger off-white head with great retention and lacing. Aroma of lightly caramel and biscuit malt, red berries (with a nice light cranberry note), citrus and piney hops; classic hoppy red ale profile. Flavor is malty, with the same mixture of caramel and light biscuit malt, mixed red berries (no cranberry tartness), light to moderate piney and citrus hops, finishes with lingering toffee inflected malt, residual red berry fruit and mild, but well balanced hops. Medium bodied with light creaminess. This one pushes all the right buttons for a West Coast red ale. It does not quite go into the "piney, resinous" hop territory it promises (it's not at IPA level), but really doesn't need to for the style. It is well balanced between malt, fruit and hops and has a nice lingering, light to moderate hop finish. There is a slight residual toffee flavor that touches on diacetyl territory, but everything else is so well integrated it hardly matters. I liked this quite a bit and haven't had a nice red ale for a while, so glad to this rode its board up to Seattle. At this date, this has an noticeable bimodal rating profile with an almost dead on 3.82 mode and 4.3 mode. I ended right in between, but having used a lot of statistics in my former life, I like seeing this kind of response. This was initially listed as an American IPA, a category in which it would not really shine, but it is a well made and flavorful American red ale. Interesting.