Red Duck Bell Hop - Purrumbete Brewing Company

lacqueredmouse

Australia

4.03/5  rDev +8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

After some disastrously crazy beers from Red Duck, it's nice to see them try their hand at something less likely to offend. 330ml bottle purchased from Slowbeer.

Pours surprisingly light and clear: a deep red-brown colour that's clearly transparent in the light—perhaps a little too dark for a red ale, but probably only halfway between a red ale and a porter. It could be around IBA territory, which they seem to acknowledge on the bottle. Head is a fine accumulation of pale off-white bubbles—these form larger bubbles, and then dissipate to a film. Lacing is speckled and ambiguous. Body is quite light. Looks decent enough, although the colour is surprising.

Nose is mildly roasted, with some pleasant uptilt from the hops. The sweetness from the malt mingles to give a musk character and a hint of crushed vegetation. Some grainy notes are pleasant as well, giving a mild toasted bread underpinning to everything. It's nice stuff.

Taste is mild but balanced: pleasant flat roasted malt provides a biscuity basis, on which are layered faint hints of floral hoppiness, giving some spikes in flavour content, but not any overpowering bitterness. Some vegetative characters do round out the back palate, however, giving a crispness that you wouldn't expect in your average porter. It is, as they say on the label, very well-balanced.

Feel is smooth and light, with just the right amount of fine carbonation.

Overall, I'm really very happy with this. I'm often pretty harsh on Red Duck when their all-or-nothing experiments go awry (see, for example, Smells Like A Pony), but I'm glad to see that their more balanced and more traditional beers are as good as this one. Very solid stuff.

Serving type: bottle

02-20-2013 06:01:04 | More by lacqueredmouse

CrazyDavros

Australia

3.43/5  rDev -8%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Pours black with brown highlights and a fading head.
Nose shows complex roasted malt with coffee and oatmeal notes. Also some light spicy hops and nutty notes.
Flavours also include hefty roasted and nutty malt along with some spicy and grapefruit-like hops.
Could use more carbonation.
Pretty solid American style porter.

Serving type: bottle

12-10-2012 00:36:33 | More by CrazyDavros