Covered Bridge Brewing: Seoirse the Great

Irish Red Ale is a beer type that can bring some mixed opinions.  Some find it to be an overly sweet style, while others find it to be a nice, smooth and malty ale.  Personally I am somewhere on the fence, I have had some fantastic Irish red ales as well as some really disappointing ones but I tend to be optimistic about them. They are a beer style you can give to people who think craft beer is all about uber hoppy IPA's or pumpkin spice beer to prove that there are a lot of different beers out there, Irish red is a beer that can be enjoyed by a larger segment of the drinking population.  Thanks to my good friends at brew donkey, I found myself with as growler of Covered Bridge's Irish red and a junior hockey game on the radio, time to do some sampling and writing!

It doesn't pour red, I'll throw that out there right away, it pours an extremely dark brown, almost black colour.  The nose is extremely malty and toffee-like, smells very thick and flavourful but it sorta goes downhill from there.  On the tongue you get all of the hops out of the way, a bitter intro that smooths out into a malty middle.  The toffee and coffee flavours are quite pronounced, but the consistency isn't great, pretty watery but at least it's flavourful.  From the nose I was expecting a much more full bodied beer, but it turns out to be fairly watery, which is disapointing.  To give the beer credit, it is quite smooth and easy to drink, but I found myself a bit let down by it.  The strong nose is a tease for a beer that just doesn't make it in terms of consistency.   I would still drink it again, but it's not covered bridge's finest.

It's available in growlers at their brewery and on order through brewdonkey.ca.  You may be able to find it at bars and restaurants in Ottawa, however I can't confirm that.

 Alc 6%

IBU 22

Rating: 3 steins.

What you need to know
Brewery address
119 Iber Road, Unit 6
Stittsville (Ottawa), ON
K2S1E7

Website:
http://www.coveredbridgebrewing.com/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/coveredbridgebrewingco/

Twitter
@CBbeer