American red ale - easy to drink, hard to define - SFGate
What I have always liked about beer, as opposed to wine, is that a style description on a label - IPA, doppelbock, porter - leads a drinker to a more precise expectation of what might be in the bottle. Both amber and red ales "utilize similar specialty malts to create depth of color and flavor, and both are fairly aggressively hopped with American-style hops," says Brandon Borgel of San Francisco's Speakeasy Ales. Speakeasy's popular Prohibition Ale illustrates the gray area perfectly, a beer with enough malt presence to handle boisterous West Coast hopping. Imagine the aroma and flavor from roasted malts, along the lines of coffee beans and toasted seeds, while caramelized malts, which are slowly stewed to bring out their sugars, give off just that - a sweeter, buttery presence of caramel or butterscotch. According to the beer festival's style guidelines, red ales must possess a range of "mediums": medium or slightly fuller body; medium levels of the fruity aromas and flavors common in IPA; medium hop bitterness and flavor; medium to full malt character. Tomme Arthur, head brewer at Lost Abbey in San Marcos (San Diego County) and the man behind the recipe for one of Port Brewing's best-known beers, Shark Attack Imperial Red Ale, attributes the difference between reds and ambers to a West Coast influence. A good introduction to reds, this beer illustrates how red ale compares to pale ale style, especially with its snappy hop finish, the mildest in the group. Speakeasy Prohibition Ale ($10/six-pack, 6.1 percent): Naming all the fruit esters and toasted, creamy notes given off by this beer would trump the ingredients in a Whitman Sampler - candied citrus to nougat and plenty of nuttiness. Malts give off enough caramel to tame the hops in the nose, but then hang back a bit so you taste the fruit and citrus before getting a dose of dulce de leche. The malt notes are more toasty and suggestive than sweet - cocoa, roasted almond and burnt sugar, as opposed to straight-up caramel.
http://www.sfgate.com/food/article/American-red-ale-easy-to-drink-hard-to-define-3498784.php
