River Valley Irish Red Ale
Big Rock Brewery

1L howler from the Century Park Liquor Depot, where this was held over from yesterday's $3.95 St. Paddy's Day special - no foolin', fools! Deep inquiries have still left me with a lingering notion that this may just be McNally's by a different bullshit corporate name - so prove me wrong, boyos!

This beer pours a clear, bright medium copper amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, tightly foamy, and somewhat creamy dirty white head, which leaves a bit of sparse paramecia shit lace around the glass as things quickly abate.

It smells of lightly bready and doughy caramel malt, an indistinct tropical fruitiness, a touch of free-ranging wet ash, middling earthy white pepper spice, cheap brown sugar, and plain weedy, leafy, and slightly perfumed floral hop bitters. The taste is semi-sweet, grainy and biscuity caramel malt, a still heady, but hard to define robust orchard fruitiness, tacit yeast, more untethered toasty notes, simmering rainbow peppercorn spice, and a simple earthy, weedy, and leafy noble hoppiness.

The carbonation is actually present and accounted for, what with its tickling and come hither hussy frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and mostly smooth, as no hops or even overwrought booziness make a scene and/or split off here. It finishes sweet, yet in a barely moderated sense - the weird spice and lingering alcohol somehow keeping those churning tires between the ditches.

Overall, I find this offering to be above average on the current Big Rock pantheon, between the twin walls of brewer's intent, and that growing marketing hucksterism. Yeah, this is probably just my initial gateway craft brew, now prostituted for the provincial (in more than one meaning of the term) liquor store concern. Kill me now, I'm so sick from the drink, and sorely wish to lift up my head til the twelve bells of noon.