The Year in Beer

Name: Redhead Ale

Brewer: Fireman’s Brew, Inc., Woodland Hills, Calif. (Contract brewed by Indian Wells Brewing Co., Inyokem, Calif.)

By the numbers: About 165 calories per 12 oz.; 5.5 percent alcohol by volume

Notes: This is one of three beers offered by The Original Firemans Brew, all three named after women’s hair color. In addition to Redhead (an amber ale), there’s Blonde (a Pilsner) and Brunette (a doppelbock). The beer and the company were created by a couple of California wild fire fighters. The company also sells coffee and soft drinks. As for this beer, I wasn’t impressed. It poured an amber,  root beer color from the bottle with a thick tan head that looked promising. The first hint of what was to come was in the sour apple and caramel aroma, odd for an amber ale. The taste was more like a brown ale, but the malt was weak and the beer was watery with no body. There was very little discernible hops flavor. I drank enough to give it a fair shake and poured the rest out.

Try it with: A better beer handy. This was my first pour out of 2011 (I had a handful in 2010). I’ll probably give the other Fireman’s Brew beers a try at some point, but this one was really disappointing. Maybe I’m just spoiled by drinking great Oktoberfest beers for the past month. Lord knows I can’t even look at a Bud Light anymore.

    — Posted by Mike Freimann