I-rish You Enough
Bear Island Brewing Company

Half pour at the brewery. Dark amber pour, paychy head. Aroma is light malts, taste offers stronger malt character, but with a fair amount of bitterness and dryness.

a hoppy irish red brewed with oats, a cool beer, a bit stronger than we normally get in an irish red, which seem to flood the market in the spring every year with saint pattys day and all. this is a unique one, i like the oats beefing up the body and adding a cool earthy layer which plays fantastically well with the flavorful irish yeast here, good thinking on that combination for sure. the hops are a little odd for the style, kind of citrusy, earthy too, but a little more fruity than i am used to in this style, some bitterness too, and they kind of take over the second half of this. a really robust combination of flavors, especially in a style i generally think of as kind of mild, its cool, definitely different. a little haze to this, not as refined as some of their other beers, but a medium amber hue looks appealing and the head is lively, so is the carbonation. nutty grain with some sweetness, the starchy oats which give kind of a raw doughy character to this, and then the fresh and zesty hops, tons of flavor, really cool recipe overall and pretty well put together. i have been really impressed with bear island so far!