The Beer Critic

Beer reviews for beer enthusiasts.

Beers Tagged ‘ Starr Hill ’

Starr Hill Lucy

August 3, 2010 | 1 Comments | Specialty, Spiced

Brewery Website: http://www.starrhill.com

Type of Beer: Herbed / Spiced Beer

Alcohol Content: 4.40%

Beer Review -

Appearance: Poured a very clear, golden straw color with a micro-fine two finger head. Sadly the head fizzled down to a film pretty quickly leaving behind little to no lacing.

Smell: …Quite interesting. Lots of spice going on in the nose of this strange brew. The first scent to jump out at you is lime..yes I said lime. With a strong mixture of coriander and candied ginger. If you think that these scents may sound like they may not belong together…you could be right. The coriander is nice but the ginger and lime seem to overpower the scent making it smell a bit like an astringent.

Initial Taste: After such an interesting bouquet the flavor doesn’t disappoint. Right off the bat the lime jumps out at you and grabs a hold of your taste buds and doesn’t let go throughout the entire drink. Some ginger (tastes exactly like the pickled stuff that comes with sushi) makes it way through the cloud of lime but sadly the coriander is almost non-existent. Finish is limey with a bitter/sour hop aftertaste.

Thoughts: Starr Hill makes some great beers like their Amber Ale and Northen Lights IPA , so these guys are no strangers to brewing top class beer. However when it comes to Lucy this reviewer thinks it should have been left on the shelf. I’m sure there are a selection of people who really like lambic style beers who might enjoy something as unique as Lucy. While the idea of a lime and ginger beer with coriander might sound enticing the balance is just too far off. Lime is a very overpowering flavor when added to beer (or any drink for that matter).  It’s presence in Lucy is just too strong making this beer taste more like a certain macro lime beer (initials BL Lime). I highly recommend you try this beer to develop your own opinion. It truly is a beer unlike anything I’ve had before. So on that bombshell, happy drinking!

http://www.smithwicks.ie

Starr Hill Amber Ale

July 6, 2010 | 2 Comments | Ales, Irish, North American

Brewery Website: http://www.starrhill.com

Type of Beer: Irish Red Ale

Alcohol Content: 4.80%

Beer Review -

Appearance: The color is a deep red honey. Clarity is great but the color is just a bit too dark to see through. Poured with a nice two finger fluffy off-white head that dissipated to a film that lasted during drinking leaving little to no lacing.

Smell: As in true Irish Red Ale style the smell is sweet and malty. The first scents that come wafting through are caramel and bready malts followed by subtle dark fruits. There are little to no hops in the nose of this beer making it smell like quite the malty Irish brew.

Initial Taste: Like the smell the flavor of this beer light and sweet. The smell is mainly sweet malts and toasted sugar. Even though this is predominately a sweet malty beer there is still a nice hoppy bitterness that helps cut through the malt and balance the beer (with the scales still on the malt side). There is a slight graininess to the beer as well which plays nicely with the other flavors. The finish is slightly sweet and yet dry enough to make this a great session beer.

Thoughts: Irish Red Ales have always been hit and miss for me as the balance of malt and hops can easily become one-sided on the side of the malts making the beer overly sweet for me. Thankfully the brewmasters over at Starr Hill have come up with an award winning recipe that maintains a strong malty sweetness and has enough hops to help balance the scales. This beer has won the  Silver Medal at the 2005 Great American Beer Festival, which is quite an honor. The beer is well rounded and what I believe to be a fantastic session brew due to the sweet yet dry finish that leaves you looking for the next bottle. I highly recommend this beer to malt and ale lovers alike.

http://www.smithwicks.ie