Blood Reign
Erie Brewing Co.

 

Poured into a pint glass: color is opaque copper, head is off white with fine bubbles and presents 1/4 inch thick but dissipates quickly to thin top and leaves spotty lacing.

Smell is blood orange, moderate booziness, some belgian yeast phenols.

Taste is forward blood orange, more boozy character and belgian yeast phenols, some hop character but muddled with the citrus.

Mouthfeel is lower carbonation, moderate sweetness, low/moderate bitterness, light boozy drying.

Overall an interesting riff on the strong belgian - blood orange is prominent but belgian character still remains though maybe cleaner than some others.

Blood Reign from Erie Brewing. 16 fl oz can picked up at Franklin Beer, Franklin, PA, 28/08/25 - $ 3.50 (including tax)/$ 0.219/fl oz. Reviewed 10/09/25, review 3583. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped on label “07/09/2025.” Stored at home at 40 degrees F. Served at 54.6 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature is 58.3 degrees F.
Appearance – 4
First pour – Straw (SRM 3), clear.
Body – Deep Gold (SRM 6), clear. Under direct light, same with a large quantity of precipitate getting a lift from the carbonation. When rear-lite, same.
Head – Average (Maximum 2.7 cm, aggressive center pour). White, high density, average retention, leaving a 0.7 – 0.9 cm crown and a thin complete cap.
Lacing – Excellent! High density band of near-microscopic bubbles above the remaining head. The upper reaches (older parts) are deteriorating into multitudinous tiny islands.
Aroma – 3.5 – Light, fresh citrus mesocarp. No malt, no alcohol, no expected fruitiness.
Flavor – 3 – Begins slightly sweet quickly turning mildly bitter with the taste of citrus mesocarp. No alcohol (8.7 % ABV, according to the label). No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Slow gastric warming.
Palate – 4 – Medium: Short of syrupy: Soft carbonation.
Style: Loosely follows the style guidelines as condensed by BA.
Final impression and summation: 3.75 Uncredited label artist. Too bad they decided to use the orange mesocarp rather than the juicy segments to flavor this – another near miss from Erie. At least the ethanol is well-hidden.

Very smooth beer with a great flavor. Would most definitely get again

 

16oz can into a pint glass. Canned 11/4/21, so 11 weeks old.

Orange body. Small white head fizzes away very quickly, no lacing.

There is a strong pleasant blood orange aroma.

On tasting, blood orange with a dash of sherbet. While this is a nice enough taste, that's all there is here.

Mouth closer to full than medium, finish orange and more sweet than bittersweet.

Overall, a one trick pony. Not an unpleasant taste, but there is zero evidence of any Belgian strong pale ale, or the abv for that matter.

Not sure what that last guy had but I taste no medicinal flavors it's mostly just pure blood orange juice with a very balanced Belgian golden ale body. It was enough for me to be overly impressed with how smooth it was and how fruity and made me want to go out and get more!

Pours very nicely from a 16 oz. can into a glass with great bright white foamy head retention. Great color as well. But this orange medicinal smell hits immediately and it doesn't improve after that. The taste is purely orange with no real balance at all. Pretty disappointing take on a Belgian Golden ale.

 

Outstanding beer! Beautiful orange color. Incredible orange smell. Intense blood orange taste. Rich, full and sweet mouthfeel. We enjoyed having this beer as part of a flight at Erie Brewing that we bought a crowler of it to go.