Old World Red Ale
Old World Brewery

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From:
Old World Brewery
 
Arizona, United States
Style:
Irish Red Ale
ABV:
6.8%
Score:
72
Avg:
2.69 | pDev: 32.34%
Reviews:
9
Ratings:
17
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Dec 03, 2014
Added:
Apr 11, 2010
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
A hoppy, Northern European red ale. Massive amounts of crystal hops gives the malty red a floral and spicy aroma. Finishes with a malty sweetness, this is second to none.

Ingrediants: 2-row barley, Pale and Vienna grains, c-60, amber and wheat. Columbus and Saaz hops.

IBU’s: 25
Original Gravity: 14 Plato
Yeast: WIP001
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by camelgar:
Photo of camelgar
Rated by camelgar from Arizona

3.25/5  rDev +20.8%

Jul 21, 2013
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 2.25 by Coconuts from Arizona

Dec 03, 2014
 
Rated: 2.5 by nleaders from Arizona

Jul 02, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by trytoketchup from Colorado

Mar 30, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by freshflesh from California

Nov 27, 2013
Photo of constantine_272
Reviewed by constantine_272 from Oregon

3.52/5  rDev +30.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
A: dark reddish brown. Great thick biscuit foam. Good carbonation. I like the looks.

S: Raspberry sweetness and sourness. Heavy malt. Alcohol overtones.

T: Sour red fruit. Almost pomegranate. Some rich malt in the form of fermented pipe tobacco. Surprising at first, but I kind of liked it. Grapefruit and yeast on the finish. Not for the timid of Belgian yeastiness.

M: A bit syrupy. Tangy aftertaste was okay, but left a raspberry fruitiness on the back palate.

O: It was surprising in the first sip. I didn't like it at first. It grew on me after I knew what I was expecting. It was malty and sour; I really didn't expect the sourness, but I love sour beers. It could have used a little aging to smooth out the sourness.
Sep 23, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by Camjmorton from Virginia

Aug 27, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by Mosul from Arizona

Aug 05, 2013
 
Rated: 3.25 by DRTBrewster from Arizona

May 24, 2013
Photo of Chelsea1905
Reviewed by Chelsea1905 from Washington

1.83/5  rDev -32%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2
The bottle I had stated 5.5%abv

Pureed a non carbonated mess with little head and looked very murky.

Had to double check that this wasn't a sour...it certainly isn't advertised as one.

Bit of a mess over all. Murky looking, no head, smelled like it was infected, and tasted as such too.

Poor
Jan 29, 2012
Photo of nlmartin
Reviewed by nlmartin from Ohio

1.06/5  rDev -60.6%
look: 2 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1
Blind Beer #12 the last bottle. The beer has been chilled and is being served in a pint glass.

A- 2.0 The body of the beer looks like weak carbonated tea. The head is a thin white coloration.

S- 1.5 Really not likeing this aroma. The aroma is sort of like tea that is several days old and endanger of becoming hard iced tea due to spontaneous fermentation.

T- 1.0 Wow! This beer is lactic in a bad spoiled sort of way. Its all soup flavors and vinegar. This seems like a seriously bad sanitation issue.

M/0 - 1.0/1.0 The beers body is thin and seems like weakly carbonated vinegar. This beer is bad! No beer drinking enjoyment unless you count the irony of the kill shot factor.

The Reveal: Old World Brewery 4 Leaf Irish Red Ale. Truly an awful experience. Thanks Phelps for a truly bad kill shot. Going to chase this beer with something with some Hops.
Jun 15, 2011
Photo of ewright
Reviewed by ewright from North Carolina

1.78/5  rDev -33.8%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1 | overall: 1.5
22 oz bottle poured into a nonic. Well, I *tried* to pour it. Obscene amounts of carbonation for the style. I had about a finger of beer along with all the foam. Beer itself is decent mahogany color and quite clear. Good lacing on the glass as the head recedes.

Dry cereal grains on the nose with a faintly cloying note of dried fruits in the background. Nose just seems to disappear very quickly (unlike the head).

There's not much in the flavor profile worth noting. There's a mildly sour aftertaste and a bit of hop bite late, but honestly, there's nothing happening up front.

This one finishes more like a lager than an ale, even has a bit of sulfurous finish. Carbonation is FAR too high for the style and the beer is really thin. At least one other review compared this to a Killian's. Honestly, I'd rather have the Killian's ... at least my expectations would be met.
Apr 14, 2011
Photo of cosmicevan
Reviewed by cosmicevan from New York

2.23/5  rDev -17.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2
Thanks to trappistlover for spreading the local love!

a - popped the bottle and poured into a capt lawrence tulip to go along with some italian food. Beer poured a deep red almost brown with a nice frothy head that didn't hang out.

s - toasted malts and a bit of brown sugar. Malts all day long.

t - much like the smell, taste is only toasted malts and biscuits. A bit much and I am not sure if I will be able to finish it. such a malt bomb that i really couldn't finish it.

m - a bit thin, decent carbonation. Leaves a biscuity aftertaste.

o - overall, not my favorite beer. I dig an irish red and thought this would hit the spot for dinner, but left a bit to be desired. Not awful, but just barely average and boring. after a while, the malts started to be too much for me and i ended up calling this one short and moving on to something next.
Apr 06, 2011
Photo of mmciz
Reviewed by mmciz from Oregon

1.3/5  rDev -51.7%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1
Phoenix's Old World Brewery is obviously influenced heavily by Stone. Check out how they unapologetically crib the Gothic vibe for their design and parrot the cocksure snobbishness ("We are serious about beer. Brewing beer is what we do and we believe that a commitment to quality will go a long way toward assuring our long term success...") which I find tolerable, if not downright endearing, when the suds back it up.

Unfortunately, Old World tends to make terrible beer. I REALLY want to like Old World but I've had several really bad bottles of it. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever thrown out more than half of any 22 bomber in my life... other than their Nitro Blonde, which was just undrinkable. I picked up a bottle of the Irish Red Ale at Total Wine hoping for better. I'm done trying -- this is one of the worst beers I've ever had in my life.

And NOT just because I'm comparing it to the Stone Imperial Russian Stout I had on tap earlier tonight... Though it's hard not to let out a bitter little laugh when the brewer dares call this "second to none" in marketing materials.

A: Pours a dark, rusty red with only a few large, clear bubbles that pop very quickly leaving no head at all. The lack of carbonation is also a problem I also had with the Nitro Blonde (purchased from Albertson's) but I chalked that up to a bad bottle and/or nitro being touchy. That was not a fluke.

S: Overripe cherries and microwaved cellophane.

T: This is where the wheels really fall off. This beer doesn't look or smell especially good but the taste is still way worse than you'd expect. It's a rotten fruit sweetness, recalling the scent of the crud you find inside a clogged sink. Seriously, call your plumber and have him try this -- he'll tell you I'm not crazy.

M: Almost no carbonation at all.

D: I'm not one for throwing out $4 worth of beer but I can't drink more than about 8 ounces of this. When I think about the fact that the Stone IRS was only $5, well... I'm going to be sick.

Please know I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but this is honestly one of the worst beers I've ever had. If anyone doesn't believe me Beer Mail me for a trade -- I'll happily take Natty Ice Light or The Beast in exchange.
Feb 13, 2011
Photo of Lucklys
Reviewed by Lucklys from Arizona

2.15/5  rDev -20.1%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 3
The Irish Red Ale started out alright, but that's only because I hadn't tasted it yet. There was barely any head to speak of and minimal carbonation to support one. The liquid was a clear mahogany base with deep raspberry highlights. Very sparse lacing followed an even thinner line of tiny white bubbles around the edge of where the beer met the glass. There was nothing impressive to report to the point where it looked watered down

The smell was very...boring...and almost musty. There were a few malts, toasted caramel, toffee, and some very light, faded grassy hops. That's about it. I really want there to be more, I want to write about the different scents and how they play together, but I can't because this beer didn't give me anything to work with. Again, nothing impressive.

Then there was the taste, which is where I only managed to get through half of the bottle before I decided it wasn't working out for me. Despite it being just as watery as it looked, it was tart and flat. There were a few more hops than malt on my tongue, the reverse of what was in the nose, leaving it more bitter without a whole lot of sweetness. There was a hint of something that wanted to be toasted caramel, but it fell dreadfully short of that aspiration, right into the complete lack of carbonation - hence the flatness. In its defense, it is quite easy to drink if you can ignore the smell and taste, or if you're drunk, but there is absolutely nothing exciting or memorable about this beer.
Oct 21, 2010
Photo of BretSikkink
Reviewed by BretSikkink from Mexico

3.01/5  rDev +11.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5
Brown color with some reddish highlighting. White head is a bit patchy and sparse, leaves a little lacing that's pretty sticky. Nose is malty, with notes of caramel, dark fruit, and toffee. Slightly metallic. Too weak.

The flavor is similarly low in character. Caramel malt with just a little raisin hiding in back. Slightly toasted, like a biscuit. Overall comes off as sweet, but mild, like the sweetness from a pale malt. Slightly citric, but more like a dose of lime juice adding to Pellegrino; nothing fruity and malty like a bock or a well made Irish red. Thin, although the carbonation is about right.

Nothing exciting here. Pleasant enough and easy as hell to drink. Again, almost like a carbonated water or weak tea with a slice of lime in the aftertaste - not a ringing endorsement.
Jun 15, 2010
Photo of ocelot2500
Reviewed by ocelot2500 from Maryland

2.52/5  rDev -6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 3
Pours a deep mahogany color with a small white head tha leaves enough lacing,

Smells of some caramel malts and not much else.

Tastes of some off flavors and a touch of malt. Malts are typical caramel malt with some sweetness and bready notes. Some metallic sourness also comes through that is unpleasant. Reminds me of Killian's Irish Red.

Mouthfeel is thin and watery.
Apr 11, 2010
Old World Red Ale from Old World Brewery
Beer rating: 72 out of 100 with 17 ratings