Erie Brewing Railbender Ale
Scottish Style Ale: Erie Brewing Company flagship beer features a deep malt flavor, caramel sweetness lingering in a soft hop flavor. Dark Amber. 16.5°
Beer Stories
Erie, Pennsylvania, the site where three sets of railroad track gauges met, was an important transportation hub in the mid-nineteenth century. Railbender Ale is named after the laborers who laid the railroad tracks. It is brewed with pride, strength and purity; symbolic of Erie’s historic railroads and their workers. Railbender is a strong Scottish Style Ale with astonishing drinkability. One try and you’ll want to “Bend the rules and ride the rails!”
Beer Stories
Erie, Pennsylvania, the site where three sets of railroad track gauges met, was an important transportation hub in the mid-nineteenth century. Railbender Ale is named after the laborers who laid the railroad tracks. It is brewed with pride, strength and purity; symbolic of Erie’s historic railroads and their workers. Railbender is a strong Scottish Style Ale with astonishing drinkability. One try and you’ll want to “Bend the rules and ride the rails!”
2.9
445 reviews
Erie, United States
Community reviews
Pours a deep reddish-amber into the glass with a fully diminishing wispy head that leaves trace to no lacing. The nose is of caramel and yeasty esters. Flavors follow suit, drier caramel malts, berries, light toast and finishing with a light ester note. The mouthfeel is a tad hollow with active carbonation, a medium-light body and easy quaff. Not the most substantive or complex Scottish Ale out there, but a decent brew nonetheless.
Caramel color. White head. Low carbonation. Smooth mouthfeel. Off flavor. Sweet malt, citrus hop.
Pours a clear amber with a small white head. Aroma of grain, fruit and hops. Taste follows. A decent bitter finish. Medium bodied.
No bottling date.
Glass: Forgotten Boardwalk tulip.
Appearance: Clear amber with a tall light tan head. Never seen a Scottish ale of this ABV this light in color.
Aroma: Light malts light caramel, nuttiness and toasty malts, artificial smelling.
Taste: Caramel sweetness overwhelming. Artificial.
Palate: Medium bodied moderately carbonated.
Overall: This brewery sucks dick. Artificial flavors aplenty, accompanied by a lighter than normal SRM due to cheap malts. This brewery sucks. Stop brewing beer.
12 ounce bottle into snifter, no bottle dating. Pours lightly hazy/cloudy deep orange/copper color with a 1 finger dense light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Light spotty soapy lacing clings around the glass, with a good amount of streaming carbonation retaining the head. Aromas of raisin, plum, apple, caramel, toffee, toast, biscuit, brown sugar, nuttiness, light smoke, herbal, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Nice aromas with good complexity and solid balance of fruity/earthy yeast and dark/bready malt notes; with good strength. A bit too fruity in the nose. Taste of caramel, toffee, toast, biscuit, brown sugar, plum, apple, light nuttiness, light smoke, light herbal, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Minimal earthy herbal bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, toffee, toast, biscuit, brown sugar, plum, apple, light nuttiness/smoke, and yeast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malt and light-moderate fruity/earthy yeast flavors; with zero cloying flavors present after the finish. Light-medium carbonation and medium bodied; with a very smooth, moderately creamy, and lightly bready mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish. Overall this is a very nice Scottish ale style. All around good robustness, balance, and complexity of dark/bready malt and light-moderate fruity/earthy yeast flavors; and very smooth to drink. A very enjoyable offering.
Quite nice. Nothing special. Drinkable and enjoyable on a reunion with some snacks too.
Poured a caramel amber color with aromas of caramel, malt, light cherry. Flavors match the aromas a little of sour notes and acidic. Not to sure about this one meh.
Notes of chocolate and toast on the nose. Appearance is a dark copper with a very small off white head. Flavor doesn't have much malt character. The beer tastes oxidized and it lacks complexity. Mouthfeel is light and has very little carbonation. Overall, it's very poorly made and handled.
Bottle. Clear bright deep golden amber color, white head. Aroma of lightly toasted biscuit dipped in caramel. Taste is toasted, lightly fruity caramel. Decent.
Pours clear copper, with almost no head. Smells malty and a tad sour. Taste is mildly roasty malts, and just sweet. Considering the other beers I’ve had from here, this wasn’t that bad.
Had from a bottle.
bottled - cool label. The beer was ok but not great. Had a bit of an odd flavor that I couldn’t place - possibly just the beer style (I’m not a big fan) or maybe just an old bottle.
new rating - on tap at Broken Goblet in Bensalem - great aroma. Malty, sweet caramel flavor. Pretty good.
Bottle - courtesy of Braudog. Thanks Matt! Coppery amber pour with a short tan head. Aroma is sweet malt, caramel, fruit notes and soft brown sugar. Taste is sweet malt, caramel, dark bread, fruit notes and soft brown sugar. Body is medium with a moderate, lively carbonation. Lots of stickiness to this as well. Ends with more caramel, toffee notes, sweet malt, dark bread, ripe fruits and hints of brown sugar.
Transfer from BA review on 10-1-12-
Poured from bottle into pint glass
Appearance – Pours a lightly hazed amber copper color with a one finger off white head. The head faded relatively fast to leave a good level of lacing.
Smell – The aroma was heavy of malt and sweet caramel and butterscotch. Mixed with these were lighter aromas of a nuttiness as well as some faint fruit aromas.
Taste – The taste begins very malty with some lighter butterscotch sweetness. As the flavor advances some sweeter tastes of caramel, citrus and a light dark fruit flavor enter the taste. While more sweetness comes to the tongue, it is still on the tamer side in comparison to many Scottish ales. More toward the end some alcohol comes to the tongue as well as a bitter earthy flavor. These flavors when mixed with the alcohol create a malty, slightly bitter, and warming flavor on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is on the slightly more chewy side with a carbonation level that is on the medium to high side. The chewiness is nice for the style and the flavors, but the carbonation level is a little too high and takes away from the overall feel by keeping all the malty flavors from really soaking into the tongue.
Overall – Not too over the top (too sweet or too boozy) like some Scottish ales, but yet has a very nice flavor. The only thing taking it down some was a poor feel due to the high carbonation. Worth a try though if you get a chance.
Fine blend of rich, sweet malt with light hops contribution. Fine for the style, and a bit lower ABV than many.
Very drinkable, though not a heavy beer, nor does it seem as string as advertised, though is 7.8 ABV. Nice malt flavors.
I really enjoyed this ale. Doesn't hurt that's it's a PA brew . Def must for my collection .
Just too malty and sweet for my liking. I didn’t really enjoy this one. Take the good with the bad.
Bottle at Mellow Mushroom Oxford. Pours clear dark gold with a medium, frothy off-white head, medium retention with good lacing. Aroma is toast and nutty malt, dates, light peat notes and cooked apples. Flavor is malt dominant with dark fruits, light hops and faint bitterness with a sweet finish. Medium to light body and medium carbonation.
Bottle. Pours a clear amber with a thin light tan head. A little light for the style but pretty. Aroma is very generic oat-like malt and some vague sweetness. Taste is fruity sweetness with a roasted malt backbone. Light caramel notes throughout. Smooth palate with very little carb. Pleasant enough but fairly generic.
Pours a clear amber with a smallish head.Tastes a bit like a Scotish Ale, but I found this aqueous and a little astringent with rotten fruit notes. Disappointing.
A good dark beer. For a Scottish Style Ale it doesn’t have a heavy scotch taste (not for me). Dark beer with a brown head and good caramel notes.
Pours somewhat murky caramel orange with white head. Taste is caramel with a bit of mineral notes some of that scotch type malt. Palate is a bit thin with lingering metallic sting. Eh.
For some reason, I’ve been seeking this specific beer out for months. 12oz bottle. Nose is metal and caramel. Uh oh. Pine note in the finish. Body is like a poorly made bock. Same goes for taste and aroma. Burns a little. Expected way more.
Very light color for a Scottish ale. Color is amber with a head that dissipated quickly. Good caramel flavor, though a little floral. Taste is pleasant but not what I expected for a scotch ale.
Pours orange with a small white head. Smells mildly hoppy with some malt backbone. Taste is mild bitter with some caramel sweetness. Medium-bodied with a slick texture and soft mouth-carbonation, Erie Brewing Railbender Ale finishes with a short lived bitterness.
A clear amber color a thin white head that faded almost as quickly as it formed. A slight generically sweet malt base initially. There was an off putting fruit and floral quality to it. Flavor was dominated by that off putting floral note I got from the aroma. It was almost like rose water. Overall body was smooth and easy to drink.
Mildly hoppy, amber light to medium body, smooth enough to drink repeatedly but nothing remarkable
Bottle from the beer club. It’s like many of the beer club brews: tends to the sweet side and unbalanced. Like many of them, it’s OK, but I don’t care if I try it again.
On tap at Dan's. The pour is a light clear brownish gold, not really how a Scottish Ale should be. The aroma is overly malty, to the point it drowns out most of the other notes. The flavor is also very malty. There is a hint of caramel and a slightly overpowering sweetness. Quite disappointing in terms of a Scottish Ale
bottle. hazy dark gold small head. faint hop and honey nose. a pale scottish ale with an astringent bitterness. medium to full bodied. butter, pale malt. somewhat sweet. not 6.8