Never as popular with the masses as softer pale ales and hardly ever receiving the accolades of richer IPA’s, this well-rounded red ale will nonetheless please wide-ranging palates. Sweet orange-peeled grapefruit, tangerine, mango, pineapple, peach and tang picks up zesty lemon twist. Spicy dry-hopped citric sharpness and mildly pungent resinous pine bittering contrast sugary hazelnut-glazed caramel toasting.
On tap at Poor Henry’s, appealing medium-bodied Imperial loads honeyed fruiting atop caramel spicing and moderate hop bittering. Candied apple, orange marmalade, pink grapefruit and brown pear illusions gain mild sinewy syruping as well as Graham Cracker-like wheat sweetness to contrast astringent 9.2% ABV burn.
Leaning closer to the ‘Crimson’ (Imperial Red Ale) styling than its Cream Ale hybridization, indistinct lactose-sugared medium body maintains cask-like soft-watered texture. Weird flavor profile collides caramel-spiced dried fruiting with mildewed cellar musk. Dessicated prune, unripe fig and moldy raisin illusions pickup weedy fungi funk. Sweet butterscotch and vanilla undertones fade fast alongside cocoa-dried molasses buttering. Awkward, but not unappealing.
On tap at Track 84, ambitious ‘ultra-hoppy’ Imperial red ale offers resinously wooded grapefruit-dried red apple skin dryness to raw-honeyed herbal spicing, dank cellar musk and leafy Simcoe-Amarillo hop rusticity. Light orange, peach and tangerine illusions linger below the surface.
On tap at Ambulance Brew House, well-rounded Imperial Red Ale contrasts vibrant fruitiness with sharp juniper hop respite and resinous pine needling. Tangy red apple, brown pear, peach, mango, tangerine, pineapple and mango sweetness contrasts brash orange-peeled yellow grapefruit bittering above light caramel malts. A delightful elixir perfectly perched between an emboldened pale ale and resilient India Pale Ale.
Strictly American-styled medium body (sans Solemn Oath’s usual Belgian influence) tosses massive piney hop bittering at dark-roasted rye graining, toasted caramel nuttiness and honeyed fruit bouquet. Tangy red apple, brown apple, peach, melon, honeydew and cantaloupe sweetness quickly embittered by sharp orange rind, pink grapefruit and pineapple briskness.
On tap at The Drafting Room, succulent sunny-hazed barleywine-styled strong ale plies floral tropical fruiting to caramel-malted honeyed wheat backbone. Resinous pine-needled grapefruit tang rides shotgun alongside orange-peeled pineapple-mango-papaya tropicalia and perfumed peach-apple-pear ripeness.
Exemplary full-bodied red ale with vibrant India Pale Ale leanings brings summery tropical fruitiness to wintry evergreen freshness. Zesty grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and resinous pine sapping thicken over brisk mineral-watered crisping. Ancillary honey-spiced pineapple, peach, tangerine and mango tang picks up rosy floral aspect.
Souped-up ‘imperial’ red ale unearths endless varied flavors. Perfectly stylistic toasted caramel sweetness picks up juicy fruited bouquet over floral-perfumed hop bite, resinous pine char and fusel alcohol astringency. Sappy spruce sinew lacquers candied apple, bosc pear, red cherry, navel orange, ruby red grapefruit, melon and peach illusions. Subtle almond-pecan nuttiness underscores valiant fruit profile. Strangely, well-defined full body features bitterer dark-roasted hop profile than Marble’s India Pale Ale.
Deviously malleable Imperial Irish Red Ale closer to nut brown ale or mocha porter. Sweet brown chocolate entry picks up dark-roasted barley roast over sugary toffee malts as well as pine nut, hazelnut, chestnut and pecan nuttiness. Wispy raisin, plum and black cherry snips fade fast.
Assaultive full body brings bright floral fruiting to refreshingly spruce-tipped gin-like juniper bittering. Grapefruit-peeled orange rind bite lifts juicy pineapple, peach, melon, honeydew, strawberry, apple, passion fruit and mango briskness above cotton-candied honey sugaring. Oily cilantro-peppered hop resin and stiff alcohol burn sharpen spry fruitful luster as well as tertiary rose-watered lilac, daisy and dandelion nuances.
