Danny's Irish Style Red Ale
Pours a very clear, but brightly coloured amber-orange. I think calling it red is pushing it. Initial froth of head, that dissipates to nothing more than a light foamy ring around the edge. Still leaves some reasonable lacing, but overall, it's not a great looking red ale. Average at best. Nose is malty and dry, with a decent dollop of grains, but little sweetness. A very faint hint of smokiness to it, but it's so weak it's almost ephemeral. These are all reasonably true characters for the style, but there's very little to it. It seems very weak, even if it's relatively style-appropriate. Taste is a little better, with pleasant grainy malt on the front, which dries out over a long period to a pleasant nutty character, just touched with a hint of vanilla. Feel is very light, reasonably smooth, but a far cry from the best examples. Not bad though. Yeah, it's missing something. I like the light graininess and the nutty characters, and it's light enough to be quite drinkable for a beer clocking in above session strength, but there's something too light, too dumbed down about it for me to really enjoy it. Tasty enough, but something I'll probably forget pretty quickly.