Ant Hill Red Ale - Big Bear Mountain Brewery

UCLABrewN84

California

1.1/5  rDev -49.1%
look: 3 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1

Pours a dark amber color with a decent 1 inch head that fades to a film on the top of the beer. It all goes downhill from here. Smells of watery malt. That's it. Taste is of watered down diet orange soda. No other flavors whatsoever. The beer is completely flat and watery in the mouth. Horrible beer, undrinkable.

Serving type: on-tap

03-14-2011 02:06:00 | More by UCLABrewN84

Conner

California

3/5  rDev +38.9%

01-27-2013 17:46:37 | More by Conner

FosterJM

California

2.95/5  rDev +36.6%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

1281st Review on BA
Draft to 5oz

@Bigbear Brewing

App- A standard red ale mix of ambers, browns, oranges and yellows. Has a small white head that was slow to recede but left some really impressive cling.

Smell- Some malts and some citrus. Wasnt a whole lot here. A bit caramel sweet and maybe some damp earthy orange juice. All I can call it.

Taste- Im gonna call it average. I found it to be a bit lackluster as most of these beers were, but wasnt bad. Had decent flavor but not earth shattering by any means. Had caramel malts and citrus that were layered but not enough pop!

Mouth - Again going with average. Was a small medium body with a soft medium carbonation. Residual malty sweet.

Drink- Just okay. Nothing to get excited about.

Serving type: on-tap

05-13-2012 05:27:36 | More by FosterJM

LXIXME

New Mexico

1.93/5  rDev -10.6%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Medium light brown head on a clear burnt red amber colored beer, the head died off quite quickly leaving a decent ring of lacing on a pint glass.

The aroma was heavy caramel, reminded me of a concentrated Newcastle Brown Ale aroma.

The taste was more concentrated caramel malts, with a slight burnt grain added to it. This beer left even more of a burnt caramel dry aftertaste then I thought it could have.

Barely drinkable unless your a heavy caramel malt fan, then I do believe your tastes would want more freshness or something.

I think this was from a batch that has been sitting for a while, I would really like to try a fresh bottle of this to give it a fair shake, another reason that all beers should be dated, if only for beer nerds like us.

Serving type: bottle

05-10-2011 00:07:37 | More by LXIXME

Retsinis

California

2/5  rDev -7.4%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

A friend who was on vacation in Big Bear recently brought a growler of this back. He's a big red ale fan for the style, but generally stick's to Killians. Been trying to get him off that hook for a while now too. He liked Irish Red from Alpine, but that is not as easy to get as Killians, so he still tends to buy it. Sorry for the rant, but figured I would entertain a bit, since it's probably more interesting then this beer was. Anyhow...

Poured from the growler into a Bruery tulip glass. The pour is of red amber, with a razor thin tan head, that faded fast, with no lacing.

The Aroma's were muted to say the least. Some pepper, almonds & tangerine's is what I get, and again, I really had to inhale to get that much.

The taste was more reminiscent of a brown ale to me actually, except for the light peppery flavor in it. Pick up flavors of Toast, toffee, almond, along with some mild bitterness. There was also this metallic tinge on the finish.

The body and mouth feel were thin, and carbonation also seems to hide the flavors somehow.

Overall, my friend actually said this was the best they had, since he did a full tastings of their offerings. Based on that, and this tasting, I would say that if your desperate for a drink in Big bear, bring some better beer with you, and save your money. Also, after having this beer, I wanted to buy my friend a six pack of Killians.

Serving type: growler

12-30-2010 00:05:17 | More by Retsinis

womencantsail

California

2.93/5  rDev +35.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

On-tap at Big Bear Mountain Brewery

A: The pour is amber in color with a thing off-white head.

S: The nose is sweet caramel and oranges, both the flesh and the peel. There's a slightly nutty aroma too which seems a bit out of place with the rest of the nose.

T: There is a nutty flavor to this as well with a bit of toffee and toasted malt. Strangely, the oranges I picked up in the nose are missing, and instead there is a hint of coffee...

M: The body is a bit on the thin side with a low carbonation that doesn't do much to help the beer out.

D: Nothing really special, I wouldn't really be interested in having any more of this, but it's wet.

Serving type: on-tap

09-13-2010 02:35:03 | More by womencantsail

Overlord

California

1.2/5  rDev -44.4%
look: 3 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 2 | overall: 1

Pours reddish brown with an off-white head.

Smells off-putting. Is that ... oh boy, smells slightly sour and astringent, and appears infected.

Taste is thin, watery malt, sour pungent infection, and a bit of a rancid, weed-y aroma.

Now, why would I review this, you ask? Well, two different six packs, from two different locations, both tasted like this. Either it's a problem endemic to the brewery, or the beer just tastes really awful. In either case, be warned.

Serving type: bottle

01-14-2010 19:12:43 | More by Overlord