Red Magil
Tailgunner Brewing Co.

473ml can - a new brewery to me - and as already mentioned, this particular offering of theirs is accompanied by a rather moving story that relates to the brewery's name, which is giving me a lot of the feels, and I shall be cuing up some early 90s era Iron Maiden in honour.

This beer pours a murky, pale apricot-yellow colour, with three sturdy fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly off-white head, which leaves a bit of spotty and sudsy lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of bready and doughy caramel malt, muddled domestic citrus rind, a further indistinct tropical fruitiness, some damp minerality, and more leafy, weedy, and piney green hoppiness. The taste is gritty and grainy Wild Rose Country cereal malt, orange liqueur, some guava and kiwi exotic fruity notes, petrichor, and more earthy, leafy, and resinous piney verdant hop bitters.

The carbonation is adequate in its palate-mollifying frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and generally smooth, the big hop quotient minding its own business, for the most part. If finishes off-dry, the somewhat frooty essences emulating a certain rotund British WWII PM's most famous speech.

Overall - this is a very flavourful, more East-coast version of the style, with the 16-proof wowee sauce component barely registering, as of yet. Worth checking out, and I hate to say it, better than the Iron Maiden-branded brew from a number years back - that one wasn't bad, just a different, less preferred style of mine. Sorry, Bruce & boys!

Notes about the brew:

As a Lancaster pilot in WWII, Red had the onerous responsibility of flying his crew into certain peril with each mission. On an icy evening in June 1943, they were discovered by the searchlights of the Nazi forces. Crippled by heavy fire and sent blazing through the dark of night, Red somehow leveled his aircraft afire and called for the others to bail out. He courageously stayed on the stick to give his crew - his brothers - every moment possible to save themselves.

A throwback to the first wave of hazy hoppy beers that had malt structure and gentle bitterness-- brewed with 100% Alberta grains and a blend of four hops from the Pacific Northwest.

Appearance - Pours a hazy honey colour with three fingers of frothy white head that leaves some puffy lace on the glass.

Smell - citrus, piney, earthy, leafy, and floral hops, citrus peel and orange peel, grapefruit peel, hint of pine resin, hint of pineapple, mango, and peach, bready malts, caramel, and earthy yeast.

Taste - citrus, piney, earthy, leafy, and floral hops upfront (although the citrus hops take predominance). The citrus, orange, and grapefruit peel followsuit. The brew then goes into the peach, pineapple, mango, and hint of pine resin. The bready malts, caramel, and earthy yeast round out the brew.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes sticky with the hops and fruits lingering.

Overall - Another stellar brew from Tailgunner. This one is dangerously sessionable. I look forward to seeing what this brewery comes up with next.