A Year of Craft Beer, Vol. 41, Cigar City Brewing Rollin' Dirty Red Ale

This beer is classified as an Amber Ale or Red Ale.  Basically it's a term that includes many styles that are lighter in color than, say, a porter with amber to red colors.  They seem to mostly focus on the lighter toasted malts with maybe a fruity character.  Some are even ale versions of the lagered Octoberfest beers.

Another brew with a reuseable bottle.  I'm glad that I am able to take advantage of a free bottle!

I don't know much about the background of this brewery or the ingredients involved, but the beer pours a deep red mohagany the is very clear and still translucent.  Any darker and she'd be a brown I think.  The tan head is thin and nice that becomes a thin ring with the Friar Tuck center cap and has nice swiss cheese looking lacing.

The aroma is caramel malty with a fruity honey aroma that is prominent.

I can't really put my finger on the flavor in the background, but I am getting caramel maltiness mixed with honey and maybe smoke flavor mixed with black pepper spiciness at the end.  The honey and smoke flavor are kind of strange and puts me off a little bit at first, but then it grows on me.  There is very little hop that is pronounced, but at the end hops are apparent and ultimately balance the beer somewhat, but it's still sort of a sweet finish.

The mouthfeel is almost watery, light, yet sweet with a finish that goes from sweet to peppery to very slightly dry.  The carbonation is quite high and maybe too high and it seems to carry the off-smokey honey like flavors throughout the sip.

I'm not real familiar with what is going on with this beer.  I like it and want to try it again so I can compare it against other reds/ambers but I don't think that I would seek this beer out for enjoyment.  There is something in there that desn't mesh well with the honey.

To be fair, it does have some excellent characteristics in color, head and complexity, but it's a tad watery and weird.

7 out of 10 seems fair for this beer maybe generous.  Again, I'm not the most experienced so take what I say with a grain of salt and always remember to drink the beers that you like and don't worry if it's not popular!

Life is too short to drink crappy beer!

- Fish Wiss