Red Coat Trail Ale
Coulee Brew Co.

Reddish amber in color, hazy with a lot of sediment to it and pouring with a good two and a half fingers of rocky, tan colored head that has a pretty good amount of retention to it that leaves thick patches and a web work of lacing on the glass.

Nice Caramel malt nose, rich and sweet smelling with a faint fruity, red apple note on the back-end.

Malt forward, a solid, medium bodied beer with an average amount of carbonation for the style with a decent amount of rolling red caramel sweetness that plays across the tongue with light hints of toffee and butterscotch as well as a faint touch of apple peel and a rich, slightly umami and lightly bitter chestnut note coming in on the back end.

Mild to moderately bitter English ale style hop bitterness on the finish that does a good job to balance out the front end sweetness with a herbal, slightly spicy resinous tobacco and black tea notes that causes the the sweetness from the from the front end to shift and roll across the tongue lingering long onto the back end with a slight stickiness on the lips.

 

 

 

355ml can pored into tulip 28/4/17

A clear reddish amber, lots of tiny bubbles feeding a two finger foam that has great retention leaving 5 distinct pencil thin rings,, looking good

S leafy, herbal, and citric hops, smells darker then it looks with some nutty cocoa, some bruised dark fruit, earthy notes, plenty going on

T nutty and herbal, the citrus faded but its replace by darker malts and works, well balanced with either the hops or malt really taking control but both leaving a big mark

M medium weight but it creams up feeling full, slick inside and just a little sticky on the lips, herbal, nutty finish

O well done red that drinks a little darker then it is, solid stuff start to finish

I've had a few from these guys in quick succession and all have been solid and this is my favorite so far. Several different styles and all made well, I'll be keeping an eye out for my favorite styles if I'm enjoying their "classic styles" this much

 

 

 

 

355ml can - part of a trio of initial province-wide offerings from this newly minted Alberta brewery. Denoted as an 'E.S.A', or Extra Special Amber.

This beer pours a clear, dark bronzed amber colour, with four fingers of puffy, rocky, and chunky beige head, which leaves some thick and streaky mountainscape lace around the glass as it slowly, slowly abates - that's some great retention!

It smells of semi-sweet, bready and doughy caramel malt, a bit of biscuity toffee, some muddled citrus and black stone fruitiness, ephemeral yeasty notes, and leafy, weedy, and grassy green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, sugary toffee candies, orange and red grapefruit pith, further dark bruised orchard fruit, and some burgeoning herbal, leafy, and grassy hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite low-key, but still provides a nice palate-coating frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and generally smooth, maybe a bit of various hoppy interlopers not taking the care here that they should. It finishes well off-dry, the robust malt and attendant fruity characters sticking to their guns in the face of a lingering generic bitterness.

Overall, Red Coat Trail Ale comes across as a well-made version of the style, and perhaps worthy of its self-proclaimed 'Extra Special' status. I say that, because good Canadian-produced red or amber ales have long been a very difficult thing to find around here - I'm glad to see that is changing!