Moling's Traditional Red Ale
Carlow Brewing Company

500 ml bottle, as "Molings Traditional Red Ale / Traditional Celtic Beer", bought in Denmark. Chestnut colour, large cream-coloured head. Very moderate aroma of malts and caramel. Malty flavour with some toffee and a noticeable bitterness, but not very complex or remarkable. Drinkable of course, but this is a beer that probably would be a lot better if cask or bottle conditioned. It’s not, which makes it not that much better than "average".

This beer poured a deep ruby, clear with light carbonation. Light head that laced nicely.

The bouquet had quite a bit of malt on the nose, with some light roasty tones. This ws followed by a light nip of hops.

This translated well to the taste, which had quite a bit of malt on the tongue, but finished with a bitter bite.

Mouthfeel was good as the malt did make this an overly heavy beer. A decent, medium bodied red that has a decent taste. I'd have another!

500ml bottle
4.3% ABV
I tried this beer on October 27, 2007 after purchasing from my local LCBO outlet. The beer poured a beautiful translucent red colour with a 1 inch tan coloured head. The aroma was hoppy and slightly sour. The mouthfeel was full-bodied and creamy with mild carbonation. The taste was hoppy as well, with some bitterness on the side of the tongue.

Beer bottle (50cl), tasted in 2001.
Appearance : dark color, with a white foam head.
Smell : caramel, floral hops aromas.
Taste and mouthfeel : malty and fruity (plums ?), well balanced, low bitterness
Drinkability : a good beer in Irish red ale style.

500mL bottle purchased from LCBO. Pours a dark, but clear, brown without much head. No lacing. Even with my stuffed up nose, I get the sense of a strongly malty aroma. Flavour is all malt and of decent strength. Unfortunately, that's not really my thing. Seems a decent enough beer though for those who like the type.

A - Clear ruby that foams up nicely with a pretty solid looking head

S - Citrusy hops . floral, with a mild maltiness

T - Nice citrus... almost pine hoppiness. This is no hop bomb though, well balanced with the malt. bitterness is also middling - well balanced with the hop flavour and malt presence. Slight butteriness.

M - Smooth, med/heavy body with a moderate carbonation.

D - Drinks well, well balanced brew.

Aroma: Very fruity, molases, brown sugar, maple sugar, toffee, caramel. Sweet coffee.

Looks: Dark copper/red in colour. Average sized cream coloured head. Good head retention. Really good lace, covering about 75% of the glass.

Taste: Caramel, brown sugar. Black currants. None of the smokiness mentioned on the back label. This Beer's flavour is mostly dominated by malt, but just enough hops were used to balance it out and produce a hoppy, and slightly bitter finish.

Mouthfeel: Lower than average carbonation. Medium bodied.

Overall, it's a good Beer, but it wasn't what I was expecting. The bottle says "Traditional Celtic Beer, so I thought of ancient celtic Beer & was expecting a murky, thick brew. Although it wasn't what I had expected, I was not dissapointed.

A: Deep amber with a light tan head, some retention, excellent lacing.

S: Earthy, sweet caramel, hint of fruityness.

T: Sweet caramel. There's some good bitterness, but it's just not enough to balance the overwhelming sweetness. Earthy minerals & fruit bread. Plenty of flavour for its weight, but too sweet.

M: Moderate body is impressive for it's weight; plenty of residual sugar; moderate carbonation.

D: Very approachable, but too sweet for my liking.

A deep, deep brown colour with glowing ruby highlights when up to the light. A modest amount of off white head. The body has an unblemished clarity. Very nice tone.

The aroma is layered with notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, smoke, roast, oats, and amber malts. There is a ginger bread/cinnamon like smell that is delightful. Nutty, complemented nicely by a trace element of roast. Modest, but very nice.

The mouthfeel has that rough, chalky mineral feel so common in UK ales. Carbonation is low with an enjoyable high (and quenching) drinkability. The flavour is of toasted amber malts. A little of pine is dead on. Nutty and distant fruit over rich toffee. Sweet caramel with a note of dark chocolate.

Everything about this beer is modest, which suits it well. It has all the right components, all the right character, an overall great recipe. I liked this one!

1/2 liter bottle

Decants a deep chestnut red...2 finger rich sticky cap lasts and laces well.

Aroma subtle earthy-nutty-malty..great nose to this one.

Good malt spine, slick mouth feel, mellow character.

Malty nutty flavor up front...no cloying, earthy hops and yeast tastes in the middle, finishes lightly drying with a smoky-nutty after taste.

Nice...not too many Irish red I take to but this one is sessionable and very tasty.

A good drinkable beer but nothing to make me want more. It pours with a fluffy off white head. Good retention, rings of lacing left behind after each drink. Has a reddish brown color.

The nose is rather bland. Has notes of caramel malt, bread and just a bit of fruitiness.

The taste is pretty much identical to the nose with a slight hop bitterness. Well balanced, not going to offend anyone either.

A newer offering at the LCBO I have yet to try, so here it goes.

This poured a nice dark red/brown, with some head leaving a little lacing and a ring around the glass. Smell is nice, sweet, malty quite delicious. Taste is also quite malty, not as bold as I would have hoped but still good nonetheless. Bit of a metallic aroma in the mouthfeel but this subsided as the brew warmed slightly.

A good, drinkable offering. Definitely a good call.

500ml bottle from LCBO.

Pours a nice colour, clear orange/red, decent thick off white head, leaves solid lace, retains a thin layer. Smell is malty and grainy, caramel, grass, light citrus, bread, quite nice. Taste is similar, just nice caramelized malts, toast, grains, bread, grassy citrus finish, light bitterness, good balance. Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied with low carbonation, very smooth. Quite a nice beer, I could drink a few of these.

Deep, dark red-brown, low carbonation. Solid one finger head, mocha-coloured, has staying power and good lacing. Smells of malt and something like fresh cut wood, pine possibly. With air, there is some cinammon coming through on the nose. The taste is hoppy with a bit of heat in the mouthfeel; medium bodied, bitter, lingering roasted malt finish. The richer taste and mouthfeel even gets a bit nutty at times, balanced without excess astringency. This is a nice change of pace if you've ben drinking too many lagers lately, I'd recommend it.

Pours a reddish mahogany color with a wispy tan head. It sticks around for a while and leaves a few trails of lace on the glass. Fruity notes and a firm graininess make up the nose, nothing in the hop department. The taste is of chewy malts, some berry, citrus and banana and some astringent barley flavor. Hopes are understated throughout, showing some herbal bitterness in the finish. The mouthfeel is medium full with lots of big bubbled carbonation.

This is a decent red ale. It's quite sweet and malty with little hop balance and some nice fruit flavors. Worth a try if you like malty dark ales.

The colour is dart red-brown; the liquid clear. The finger thick beige head is airy.

The smell is sweet with some lightly roasted malt. Some flowery notes.

The taste is dry and bitter with hints of smoke and roasted malts. The gentle aftertaste is balanced with notes of toffee and some fruity hops.

The carbonation is strong with medium sized bubbles that are almost sharp. The liquid is medium thick.

Not a very interesting brew.

BB date unknown, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

A: dark russet brown in colour, very elegant; the light beige creamy head builds up nicely, then leaves tight sheets of lacing as it fades; carbonation is gentle and constant.
S: quite refreshing, featuring mainly caramely malts, sweet black tea, added with a light dusty touch; sticky plums, dried longan-fruits, and more caramelised sugar to follow after a swirl, but on the balance there's not much else to enjoy.
T: the first sip reveals rather deep roasty hints to hide behind the initial light caramely malts; in contrast to the nose, the palate is much less sweet, featuring rather soothing caramely sweetness with a faint trace of caramelised-apple; the slightly earthy and semi-smoky bitterness slowly takes over and overwhelms the palate at the back, leaving a clean yet chewy bitterness to linger with some dried-fruits and a light smoky aroma.
M&D: lightly spritzy fizzy, light-medium bodied, and overall a good gravity is shown to retain the balance. I'm glad that this beer tastes better than it smells, showing a pleasant contrast between sweetness and bitterness. This is perhaps only the second Irish Red Ale I've tried, and not too bad for being a quaffable pint!

Tasted this 500ml bottle on 22nd March 06, BBE Jun 06.

Poured a generous foamy head atop a ruby coloured body. No haze, - streams of bubbles from base of the glass.
Smell: fresh smell, some maltiness, light hops.
Tasted slightly rusty at first, hint of smoke (?), and touch of blackcurrent. Mouthfeel okay, overall a refreshing red ale. Would make a nice session beer, quite drinkable.
Not an English Pale Ale.

A drinkable beer, nice white head. Beery chessy aroma. Some chocolate malt and molasses in here, along with pronounced bitterness, some roast was nice carmel at end. Astringent medium mouthfeel. Overall doesn't work but a meal would make the bottle finishable.

Appearance- Thin Dark red-black when not in the light- very thin head that fades to a ring around the glass.

Smell- Sweet malt smell

Taste- light sweet, A bit of hops in the background

Mouthfeel- Thin watery light but not to bad

Drinkability- Smooth drink more than one flavor comes into play makes it interesting to drink not a bad beer

Not the most interesting beer, its drinkability is its high point. It could be better, but I would not turn one down.