Red Menace Big Amber

Don't ask me what I was thinking, but I through this was an imperial amber. I think that the "Big" in the name is what screwed me up.

Stats:
Brewery – Hale’s Ales Brewery & Pub in Seattle, Washington
Style – American Amber Ale
O.G. – 1.056
Malts - Pale malted barley, Caramel and Carastan malts, a handful of Black Malt.
Hops – All Centennial hops
Serving Type – 22 oz. (bomber) bottle

It turns out that Hale’s Ale is literally true and not just a cool sounding name. It was started by Mike Hale who was assisted by the Brewmaster J. Kipling. So, Hale does own the ale. Anyway, they released there first beer (Hale’s Pale American Ale) on July 4th 1983 from their original brewery in Corville, WA. Nine years later they moved to Spokane (just like my brother) and doubled their brewing capacity. However, in the mean time, they opened up a second brewery in Kirkland early in 1987. It was this brewery that got moved to the Fremont district of Seattle, and opened up a restaurant in 1995. The brewing got consolidated into the Fremont Brewery, and in 1998 they started bottling their beer.

Looking at the label, I can’t help but think I’ve seen that face before. Then it hits me, these guys are In the Fremont district, as is the cast bronze sculpture of Vladimir Lenin. Then I’m landed by the second blow; by drinking this beer am I condoning a radically left socialist ideology? Then I calm down and realize that I worked hard for the money that allowed me to randomly select this beer off the wall without any coercion from “Big Brother” and how good that made me feel. Once again I am secure in my Capitalist views.

Glass – Glass MugAroma – Smells good. It has a light sweet malty aroma, and it's a little bready. There is also a moderate flowery hop aroma. I think that there is a slight apple smell as well.

Appearance – It starts off with a large off-white creamy crown that reduces to a thin, but very stable crown. It has very nice sticky lacing on the glass. The color has (can you guess what it is?) a RED hue (bet you didn’t see that coming) and a crystal clear body.

Flavor – As the beer fills my mouth I can detect a sweet honey flavor down the middle of my tongue and a burst of citricy hoppyness on the sides and in the back. It finishes dry with a little linger bitterness.

Mouthfeel – It has a medium body with some moderate carbonation.

Final Thoughts – No real “razamataz” to this beer. Just a strait forward hoppy yet sweet beer that would be pleasurable to just kick back and watch some TV with.