Irish Red
Athletic Brewing Co.

L - amber, maybe a little lighter than it should but but with a large light khaki head that sticks around and leaves lacing behind
S - bready malt, caramel, piney hops
T - follows the nose - bready, yeasty malt, caramel, piney hops. Some grain/cracker malt
F - medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Slightly watery
O - not a bad NA Irish red at all. Somewhat watery like most NAs, but really not a bad approximation of the style

Fantastic job on this Irish Red. I could drink this year-round. Like a nice pub beer, could use a little more foamy head, but still this is so much like a regular red ale its hard to believe its an NA. Wish they made it year-round. Best one yet!
Seasonal update edit: Yup, Athletic’s Irish Red is still one of the most incredible NA brews available. The latest edition is even better than the last release. Absolute Perfection!

 

Poured from a can into a pint glass. Pours orange red with a small off white head. Smells of caramelized grain and some fruitiness. Tastes of caramelized grain with a tad of light fruit. Beer is light bodied and easy drinking, good carbonation. Overall, a good NA beer.

 

Canned 1/23/22

Looks more like an amber ale than an Irish red, but the division betwixt those two styles is minimal to begin with, so what the fuck. Smells of sweet malt up front, but then the wortiness really takes over on the back end. It's not unpleasant, but it does give me the impression of a beer that's not quite finished. But that's an unfair can of worms to open. I knew what I was getting into. Tastes like a reasonable approximation of the style. Malt-forward with some caramel notes mingle with lightly toasted brown bread. Finishes, again, worty and, again, it's not unpleasant. Fairly robust of body with light carbonation which surprises me, but I'm not complaining. This is pretty damn good. The dipshits blasted outta their tit on green Bud Light on St. Patrick's Day would probably think this an abomination, but as for me, I'll gladly have another. I got shit to do in the morning.

Pours a dark ruby-burgundy with two fingers of off-white foam. Head retention is good. Aroma is earthy, bready, caramely malts with a semi-sweet worty, spent grain note just beyond. Malts are ~90% of the aroma, with the worty, spent grain creating the last 10%. Flavor profile is in line with the aroma, with a little more depth and balance. Earthy, bready, caramely malts play along well with faint toffee, creating a semi-sweet, but balanced flavor profile. Mouth feel is medium-thin with a sharp effervescence up front that fizzles down to a moderate, but still prickly, effervescence at the end. Overall, some great malt characteristics here, especially for a NA beer. It tastes like a young Irish Red style beer.

Served in a 15.5oz Speigalau tulip from a 12oz can.

Appearance: Slightly reddish amber color with a generous-sized foamy light beige head that slowly faded. A good looking beer.
Smell: Sweet malt aromas dominate the nose.

Taste: The sweet malt notes that were present in the nose are apparent in the flavor but I also pick up some moderate bready malt notes. The finish is mildly sweet but there is a touch of cracker notes and mild hoppiness to dry the beer out somewhat.

Mouth-feel: The body is on the light side of medium-bodied with a generous level of carbonation.

Overall: While there is some of the prominent sweet malt taste typical of many non-alcoholic beers there is a nice bready malt presence and mild hop presence to counter that. The Irish Red style as described here on BA is supposed to be a malt prominent style with mild bitterness and this N/A version is true to that with perhaps a touch exaggerated malt sweetness. This would be a nice hot weather beer.