Alpine Beer Company McIlhenney's Irish Red

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

22 oz. bottle (courtesy of Hamilton23) poured an dark amber with a small off-white head which dissipated into a coating. There was little lacing. The nose was dark fruit, caramel and roasted malt. The taste is fairly sweet - brown sugar and caramel, tempered by rye and with a bready taste. The mouthfeel is thin with medium carbonation. While this is a fine stab at the style, with so many great beers from this brewer, this one missed for me. Not a bad brew at all, this just isn't a noteworthy offering.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 5

Bottle, home. This beer is okay, but it's a disappointment coming from Alpine. This beer is bright orange rust in color with a small dissipating head, white. The aroma is a nice mix of malt flavors. It's hard to pick out too many individual malt notes because the caramel dominates, but chocolate and a touch of fruit peak out. Hops are almost nonexistent. The flavor is the real downer. It starts out almost rich and sweet with malt flavors but that quickly fades into an odd mess of sickly sweet and off-kilter light roast bitterness. The mouthfeel is also odd and not so great. I wish that this beer had a bit more hops or a bit more direction with the malt. It's not bad or anything, but this isn't a direction that I particularly like. All that said, I still firmly believe that Alpine is awesome.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Pours with a deep amber body topped by a thin to medium thick head with some lacing. It’s sweet, malty and slightly fruity with a touch of caramel and an underlying hop note. Medium bodied and smooth.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Nice dark plummy red brown but the head is licaking. The aroma is malty, a bit roasty but little else. The flavor is more roasty than expected with a light sweetness. Not a lot of complexity except for a little melon, and really low hopping. Of course, low hopping makes sense for the style, but the lack of fruitiness doesn't. Boring but not bad.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

As my buddy Richard and I always talk about, I have certian deeply ingrained dislikes -- Dopplebock's, Berliner Weisse's, and yes, Red Ales. Way too many times I've had a brewpub's sampler set, and have had their "red" ruin the taste of the other beers, as the sickly cloyingness ruins my palate and the presentation of any other beers for the day.

But, at the same time, I'm open-minded enough to recognize quality examples of this pseudo-style -- and McIIhenney's Irish Red is indeed a very nice beer. Nice and malty, of course, but not so much that it drowns out the hops (I honestly don't think that will ever be a problem with any of the beers from this brewery!). Nice malt-to-hop ratio, in that neither dominate, and both contribute to the nice mouthfell and drinkability.

Overall, I can see why a buddy of mine got a keg filled with this while we were there last evening. A solid and enjoyable ale -- yes, even it does happen to be red! :)
//TB

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This is probably the best Irish Ale Ive had to date. A dark reddish brown appearance with a moderate head. The flavor was rather complex with some bitterness present. I tasted cherries, nutmeg, and grapefruit. From the looks of it, I enjoyed this more than most people.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 6

Medium reddish color. Medium head. Aroma is roasted malt, citrus and sweet. A medium bodied Irish ale. Malts are nutty and sweet. Slightly spicy hops. Crisp and clean. Nicely balanced. A good session beer. Nothing really special, but a nice clean beer. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 6

Thanks to xlperro for this brew. Appearance: McQlhennye's Irish Red pours a crystal clear reddish brown color w/ a two finger dirty white head. The head slowly dissapates. Aroma. The nose is nice and malty Flavor: This brew has a slightly malty taste with a touch of hops. This is a nice session beer.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

So this was a nice burnt reddish orange, auburn color. Realy carbonated. Just a thick malty aroma with a malty burnt sparkly. Nothing special, but its not like you can make this style special.