Red Panda (Panda Frog Project)
Mordue Brewery

Auburn. Slight haze. Thin beige head with good retention.
Sweet fruit. Blackberry and raspberry noticed. Mild hop.
Fruitiness continues on the palate now including strawberries. Decent bitterness.
Viscous.
Very enjoyable.

Pours hazy dark ruby red into a tulip from a bottle. The beige head has good retention, is creamy and and sits at two fingers thick for a long while before receding to a comfortable one finger; a good amount of chunky lacing is left on the glass.

The aroma is all sweet blood orange and red grapefruit on the forefront before turning languidly to light malts, and finishing with floral hops on the back of the nose. It's gushing with sweet red fruit, very juicy and fresh smelling like squeezed orange whilst still retaining an amber malt character.

The flavour follows on with more red berry character in the front palate - raspberry, strawberry, blackberry - before turning to blood orange, pomegranate, tutti frutti, and rust, before going to light malts and sweet grains on the back end. There's an almost raspberry liqorice quality amongst the flavours, bolstered by a dried strawberry saison-like quality without the sour. It's quite aromatic.

The mouthfeel is gloriously thick for a red ale; full bodied, smooth, creamy, and silky. It coats the mouth like fresh fruit smoothie whilst still quenching the thirst. There's no drying quality with this ale; that low ABV giving it a great balance.

What a hidden gem; this is how I'd expect a red ale to be; it's thick and chewy with great red fruit flavours, fresh aromas and overall just great drinking. I could sip on this all night.