AleSmith Brewing Company - Evil Dead Red Ale

Hey gang! Hard to believe it's already October. So like most of the first reviews of each month, it's time for my September BOTM beer my wife picked up for me. Pretty stoked for this one. Admittedly, I've had it once before on tap so I'm very interested in trying this one from the bottle.

So tonight I'm drinking the fall seasonal from AleSmith Brewing Company down in San Diego, this is their Evil Dead Red Ale which is a 6.66% abv red ale, or amber ale. One of the two. You can go ahead and pick. On tap this was fairly hop forward with some nice caramel malts keeping everything together. I very much enjoyed this on tap so I'm anxious to get this one poured into a glass. So with that said, enough babbling. Let's get this one opened up!

Evil Dead Red pours out a really dark amber color, bordering on a red/blood red. Holding this up to the light you definitely get the red colors shining through. There's a really fluffy and thick white head about a finger to a finger and a half worth. It sticks around for a while and leaves behind a really thick and sticky soap-like lacing. A good amount of carbonation streaming up the glass. Overall just a really nice looking red/amber ale. Let's get the nose.

Wow, right away a huge hit of citrus hops. Big grapefruit and maybe mandarin orange. Very sweet smelling, very fresh smelling. There's a bit of a sticky caramel malt shining through behind the initial blast of hops. This beer smells incredible! Really fresh hops, tons of citrus, and just more hops. Much more citrusy than I was expecting or what I remember. This is a pretty fresh bottle so I'm thinking that's a big factor. I'm ready to drink this one. Let's get to it! 

First thing are really fresh citrus hops. Lots of them. They really drive straight through the palate. Sides of the palate you get that caramel malts, lots of sweetness, some sugar, a bit of a bread-like, cake-like type of taste and similar mouth feel. Back end of the palate you get more caramel maybe even a hint of vanilla believe it or not. More of that citrus lingers throughout tap dancing on the tongue. As I sip on this some more the orange flavors really shine. Very juicy and sweet. This is a fantastic tasting beer! 

So overall, Evil Dead Red Ale from AleSmith Brewing Company is another winner. There's nothing wrong with this beer. I literally cannot say a single negative thing about this beer. It's so incredibly balanced. I'd even consider going as far as saying that Evil Dead Red is the BEST red ale I've ever had. If you can get this, you need to do so. It's amazing fresh so get it now and drink immediately. I don't remember this being as good as this on tap. If I see this again before it's out of the stores I'll be buying it. Do the same! 

Rating: A+

Port Brewing - Shark Attack Double Red Ale

So I know I'm a couple days late, but how awesome is Shark Week? Well, the answer is simple. It's fucking AWESOME!!

I meant to get a review of this up last week but I just got a bit too busy. So tonight I'm drinking a beer with Shark, and what we all hope to see during Shark Week, an attack. That's right, I'm drinking Shark Attack by Port Brewing Company in San Marcos, CA. This is a 9% Double Red Ale. So, I guess it's an Imperial Red ale, probably bordering on red IPA.

So let's cut to the chase and see how the Shark Attack tastes. Let's see if it really is worthy of being considered for Shark Week!

The Shark Attack pours out a really dark ruby red, mahogany color. There was a really fluffy egg shell colored head, about 2 fingers, maybe bordering on 3 fingers worth. The head didn't stick around very long and really didn't leave much lacing behind. There's a decent amount of carbonation coming up off the bottom of the glass. Shark Attack is pretty see through but there's a decent amount of haze on this one. This looks like a really nice Red Ale. Let's get the nose on the Shark Attack.

LOTS of malt character here. Quite a bit of caramel and maybe even some burnt sugar. There's a ton of hop bitterness here as well. Lots of earthy notes, and some floral qualities shining through. I'm getting some dark fruits also. A bit of dark raisin and even some date/fig like characters. Some nice grapefruit as it warms a bit. But honestly, this is a big, malty red ale. Double Red Ale definitely describes this beer well. I'm ready to see if this one has the bite it claims.

First thing I pick up is a lot of caramel malt. Very sweet. That's immediately followed up by a floral, earthy, grassy character. Very bitter. Sides of the palate there's more caramel sweetness paired up nicely with the bitter grapefruit I found on the nose. There's some sugary, bread-like characters coming through. This is very sticky. There's some syrupy, maybe peachy qualities. Unfortunately, not much of that raisin/date character. Not a ton going on. This is incredibly malty. Very, very sticky.

So overall, this is decent at best. It's genuinely a malt bomb. There's good bitterness as well but it's so overpowered by the sheer force of the malts here. This is honestly a syrupy mess. I'd say if you see this and it's cheap, check it out. Otherwise, probably worth avoiding. I've had this on draft before and it was much better (as most beers generally are) but from the bottle, it's a letdown. Not really worthy of Shark Week.

Rating: B-