We've had this one kegged for some time now, and wanted to share our thoughts on how it turned out.
Appearance
Unsurprisingly, we have a deep red hue that really needs to be in direct sunlight to be fully realised. It otherwise looks much darker. There's a thick, persistent, fluffy, off-white head that gives plenty of foamy texture to each sip.
We did use whirlfloc when brewing this, so after a few weeks in the keg it's dropped pretty clear, but once again with the relatively dark colour, this isn't particularly noticeable.
Aroma
Loads of caramel, and cocoa notes, as well as some hints of english-style esters from the S-04 yeast.
Flavour
With the exception of a small amount of golden naked oats, the grist is entirely made up of Red-X malt. As a result, the flavour is very rich, perhaps a little too much in our opinion. On entry there's an initial hit of malty-caramel sweetness. Bitterness is very restrained, along with the general hop flavour. It tastes very malt-dominated, which is fine for a beer like this. In saying that though, the hop selection is good, with the noble hop varieties used complementing the flavour profile well.
Whilst we still enjoy this one and it is definitely very approachable, we'd probably dial back the Red-X malt and add in some pale malt to balance it out a bit better.
Final Thoughts
This all grain kit certainly represents good value in our opinion, and is a good alternative if looking to make something different from the plethora of IPA's, Pale Ales and lagers. We feel it represents the style of an Irish Red Ale pretty well, though with the fairly strong malt flavours, we find we'll only enjoy a couple before moving on to something else.
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