Blood Alley Bitter
Russell Brewing Company

Blood Alley BitterBlood Alley Bitter
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From:
Russell Brewing Company
 
British Columbia, Canada
Style:
Extra Special / Strong Bitter (ESB)
ABV:
5.5%
Score:
87
Avg:
3.9 | pDev: 8.97%
Reviews:
28
Ratings:
87
Status:
Active
Rated:
Nov 19, 2020
Added:
Jan 04, 2011
Wants:
  7
Gots:
  19
No description / notes.
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Photo of altstadt
Reviewed by altstadt from Canada (BC)

3.4/5  rDev -12.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Clear brown-orange color. Poured a short head that was slightly tan colored. The head collapsed into a thin skiff in about a minute. Low flow of tiny bubbles from the bottom of the glass. Left no lacing.

Light-medium barnyard scent that was replaced by a medium roasted malt. Swirling the glass kicked up a stronger barnyard.

Medium-strong bitters that have a little bite. There is a bit of malt, but it is much lighter than expected from the scent. Light vegetal hop flavor. The aftertaste is a stronger burst of bitters and more of the vegetal hops.

Light tongue tingling as it foams up to a notch past creamy. Medium-heavy body.

This has much stronger bitters (50 IBU) than any other ESB I have tasted. My notes on this from a few years ago had no mention about the barnyard I found this time. The bitters should be dialed back a bit. The barnyard really needs to be dialed back. The aggregate score lost a point when compared to my previous notes.
Nov 19, 2020
Photo of Rasmonton
Reviewed by Rasmonton from Canada (AB)

3.98/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Cloudy orange amber appearance with solid off white puffy head that shows good retention. Mike bitter taste with biscuity malts. Very nice and drinkable taste. Will definitely get again.
Apr 25, 2020
 
Rated: 3.75 by warpedrevolution from Illinois

Aug 14, 2019
 
Rated: 3.98 by garthbrennan from Tennessee

Oct 23, 2018
 
Rated: 3.85 by BCborn from Canada (BC)

Dec 14, 2017
 
Rated: 4.3 by mistahmojoryan from Canada (SK)

Apr 23, 2017
 
Rated: 4.04 by Ravenonrock from Canada (BC)

Mar 01, 2017
 
Rated: 3.75 by nickfl from Florida

Sep 05, 2016
Photo of DucksFan16
Rated by DucksFan16 from Tennessee

3.28/5  rDev -15.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.25
07/06/2016
Jul 08, 2016
 
Rated: 3.85 by alew_os from Canada (BC)

Jun 27, 2016
 
Rated: 4.16 by Chriswillms9 from Canada (AB)

Jun 25, 2016
 
Rated: 3.69 by Tiernan from Texas

May 31, 2016
 
Rated: 4.05 by BcCraft710 from Canada (BC)

Apr 28, 2016
Photo of likeablepaper
Reviewed by likeablepaper from Canada (AB)

4.12/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Pours a dark copper with a fingers width of foamy head at the top of the glass. Smells of roasted malts, caramel, and pine. A little bit more hoppy than your average ESB but, nicely balanced by the malts which add caramel and roasted almond notes which balance the bitterness and pine flavor from the hops. Very smooth, almost creamy feel. Overall, an excellent beer and take on a ESB!
Dec 07, 2015
 
Rated: 3.97 by Kenmac19 from Canada (BC)

Dec 01, 2015
 
Rated: 3.5 by headlessparrot from Canada (ON)

Jul 07, 2015
Photo of Garin
Reviewed by Garin from Canada (AB)

2.81/5  rDev -27.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.25
Looks: A nice clear coppery gold colour in the glass, with a thin but creamy white head. It's suprisingly leggy on a swirl -- a bit heavy looking.

Aroma: a bit of hops, a little toasty malt.

Taste: Pine resin hops dominate, grapefruit hops support. I'm missing the UK style floral hops. The net effect buries the mild biscuity malt way down. Some graininess makes it into the finish, but the lowest-end maltiness combined with the maximum-for-ESB bitterness makes it a faraway echo of what an ESB should be. The key is balance! Also there's a bit of sweetness that suggests too much caramel malt. For me, this beer misses the point of an ESB: this is not an ESB. It's a good beer, and I'll definitely finish the ones I have, but I'll recalibrate to think of this as a sort of IPA, which is much more in line with what they've brewed. I wanted an ESB, I bought this beer, I didn't get an ESB. Points lost.

Feel: on the heavier side of medium, but within an expected range. Firm carbonation and a bit boozy, but again: within the ESB range.

Overall: It's more like an IPA, but given that Russell already brews half a dozen other hop-bombs, I guess they wanted to market this as something else. This beer could be improved dramatically with slightly less resiny hopping, and slightly more malt flavour with slightly less body.
Jul 05, 2015
 
Rated: 3.5 by Corson from Canada (AB)

May 19, 2015
 
Rated: 3.99 by Exeter from Canada (AB)

Apr 25, 2015
 
Rated: 3.9 by Eric_Standard from Canada (BC)

Apr 03, 2015
Blood Alley Bitter from Russell Brewing Company
Beer rating: 87 out of 100 with 87 ratings