Bob's Bearded Red Cream Ale
Mill Street Brew Pub

Appearance: Poured with a nice two fingers of head from a nitro-can, with next to no lacing. The body is a deep dark red that boasts next to no carbonation in the body. Being a nitro-can it is a bit hard to judge, but I've had other red nitro cans and I seem to recall at least a bit of carbonation in the body.

Smell: Light malt with molasses, and that's it. Warming doesn't help bring anything out, and while there is nothing wrong with it, it's frankly boring. At least it is potent enough to be worth mentioning I suppose.

Taste: Much like the nose, the beer is boring, it starts with a very moist weak malt, that pretty much stays the course until a slight hint of almonds and some earthy hops come to finish off the beer. There's nothing that stands out as offensive or unpleasant, apart from the overwhelming absence of character. I've tasted light beers with more character then this stuff.

Mouthfeel: Well, it does offer creamy head which is good and it doesn't leave much of an aftertaste. The downside is the carbonation is completely tied up in the head, meaning the beer tastes flat and watery as you drink it. I can't really talk how the beer shifts flavors, because there's just not a lot there to talk about.

Drinkability: Well, it's refreshing and unlike some Irish Red's I've had, it is medium bodied, so it doesn't leave you with a heavy feeling in the gut, and it is humble as it goes down. The problem is there no crispness or bitterness, or much of anything. It's way too watery, which for a style that isn't meant to be a summer guzzler, this poses a huge problem for me.

Final Thoughts: I probably should be ranking this one lower, because while it doesn't do much wrong, it doesn't seem to actively want to do right. To be honest with you, this beer is the living evidence as to why you shouldn't add nitro to every beer. I'm fairly certain the creaminess the nitro is supposed to impart has cause a severe lack of aggression on the carbonation, which has led to its watery, lacklustre taste. If this was intended to be an Irish red, this is a fail due to the complete lack of character and flavour. If this was intended to be a light drinker, also a fail for using nitro needlessly. I can't in good conscience recommend this one. You will want to pass on this one.

I bought the winter box from Mill Street Brewery and there is some nice discovery in it like this one. Only negative thing you'll have to get the box to taste it cause its not to sell as individual.

A- Really Nice liquid wich foam as hell and make a superb show to watch the nitrogen gas getting down in the glass while it creates a big white collar dissolving gradualy as the gravity do the job.

S- Malt, Light roast, Slightly Molasse odor

M- Impressive texture and mouthfeel. Its thick in mouth and the feeling is like getting suede inside your cheeks pretty like a Guinness would do to referate to something well known. Pretty nice caramel taste in mouth too.

O- Really impressed by this beer and was not expecting as much for that product. Really surprised in the good way of it.
The creamy mouthfell and the fluffy feeling and the lightness of this beer is like getting a good dessert for the soul (without all the sugar!).

Brown with nitro head. No real nose, light body but no flavour. Almost no carbonation. Second time for this beer was no better. A miss.

440 mL nitro-can included in their latest Winter sampler pack; dated Dec 1 2016. Listed at 4.8% and served slightly chilled.

Pours a translucent copper-amber colour, with one finger of creamy, off white-coloured head situated atop, which then hangs around for the better part of ten minutes. An attractive curtain of foamy lacing is slowly revealed as its level gradually drops. Caramelized sugar, sponge toffee and toasted bread on the nose - this is fairly aromatic by nitro beer standards, with subtle hints of hazelnut, vanilla and earthy hops.

Not bad. Moderately sweet, but not annoyingly so - it starts off with caramelized sugar and sponge toffee, followed by grainy malts and toasted bread. Vaguely nutty, with hints of apples and then a mildly piney, earthy hop bitterness towards the finish. Grassy finish, with the malt sweetness lingering briefly. Light in body, with a silky-smooth, creamy texture which makes this sessionable red ale quite satisfying to sip, and extremely easy to gulp back.

Final Grade: 3.78, a B+. I wasn't expecting a lot out of Bob's Bearded Red Cream Ale, but I'm happy to report that it's actually one of the better Mill Street products I've tried over the last year or so. Not at all cloyingly sweet like their Vanilla Porter, and a little more balanced and flavourful than their Cobblestone Stout - making this the optimal choice of the three, and significantly better than Kilkenny, at least IMO. I don't drink nitro beers on a regular basis, but this is a respectable example of one that I could actually see myself picking up on occasion - with the resources of Labatt-InBev behind them, shrink-wrapped 4-packs of this can't be too far off, can they? I'm far from a Mill Street fanboy, but I'd still pick one up.

440 ml nitro can served cold into a pint glass. Purchased from the LCBO for around $3.25 CDN.

Appearance - initially muddled together, after a minute the campy white head settles out as close to two fluffy fingers on top of a slightly hazy dark red beer.

Smell - plenty of coarse grain, a goodly amount of caramel, this smells very inviting and delicious. A bigger nose than expected for a medium ABV Irish red.

Taste - middling bitterness with some earthy and musty undertones. Some coarse grain, but boander than expected especially after the nose. Tasty enough just doesn't really stand out.

Mouthfeel - superbly smooth and creamy, easy drinking too with a medium dry finish.

Overall - a fine Irish red with nitro and well constructed and easy drinking flavors. Aroma is great, just wish the flavors were a little more assertive and leaned a little more on the caremal side. Worth a try.

I got a can of this from a mixed pack I bought whilst in Hamilton for my son's hockey tournament. It poured a clear rich mahogany with nitro white head that is not leaving any lace. The scent had hints of sweet malt. The taste is nicely balanced and easy to drink. There is some sweet malt. The Mouthfeel is lighter in body with nitro carbonation. Overall it's ok.

Can: Poured a clear copper color ale with a nitro smooth head with great retention and lacing. Aroma of light caramelized notes with smooth creamy notes. Taste is a mix of lightly sweet caramelized notes with subtle residual sugar notes and a smooth finish from the nitro notes. Body is light with good carbonation. I find the nitro kind of remove flavours but still an easy sessionable Irish ale.

Pours a ruby red body with a thick, creamy off-white head. The aroma has some sharp, slightly piney and grassy hops along with some spicy, bready malt. The flavour is fairly bready and crackery with a ping of hoppy bitterness. Generally a good beer, I'd buy again.

 

 

 

440ml can, part of the current Mill Street winter mixed pack. The name is based on some relationship that Mill Street's brewer has with a tenor...yawn.

This beer pours a clear, medium bronzed amber colour, with a cascading tower of Diageo-worthy creamy beige head, which leaves some decently thick ocean spray lace around the glass as it very slowly ebbs away.

It smells of bready and doughy caramel malt, muddled domestic stone fruit, a subtle earthy yeastiness, and some tame leafy, weedy, and herbal noble hop bitters. The taste is grainy and doughy caramel malt, a still hard to define stone fruit and bland citrus fruitiness, a strange sense of unrequited mustiness, and more plain earthy, weedy, and herbal hoppiness.

The carbonation is obviously quite overwrought, but in a good, good sense, via its coddling frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and very smooth, with a sexy creaminess that you just had to know was coming on like Donkey Kong! It finishes off-dry, in that typically wan malty manner that I'm sorry to say is standard for the style.

Overall, this is a decent enough rendering of an Irish cream ale, the expected creaminess duly presented and accounted for. Like every other version before this, there isn't much else to say, other than this isn't made by a behemoth corporation that makes, you know - oh wait, shit, it is.