Smithwick's Red Ale
Can and bottle: Filtered
In 300 years of triumph, adversity and above all, brewing, you learn a thing or two about ale. This, our original Red Ale, is a blend of mild hops, sweet malt and roasted barley. Like the castle at the heart of our Kilkenny home, it’s stood the test of time throughout Irish history, and earned its rightful place as Ireland’s most loved ale.
Smithwick’s Red Ale is the ruby red session ale with a gentle hop bitterness, sweet malty notes and a refreshingly balanced taste.
In 300 years of triumph, adversity and above all, brewing, you learn a thing or two about ale. This, our original Red Ale, is a blend of mild hops, sweet malt and roasted barley. Like the castle at the heart of our Kilkenny home, it’s stood the test of time throughout Irish history, and earned its rightful place as Ireland’s most loved ale.
Smithwick’s Red Ale is the ruby red session ale with a gentle hop bitterness, sweet malty notes and a refreshingly balanced taste.
2.9
238 reviews
Dublin, Ireland
Community reviews
Brown with white head. Aroma is malts. Taste is strong malts and a slight barley taste.
Beautiful dark copper beer with an off-white head that lasts pretty well.
Hoppy aroma with malt in there, too. Creamy foam.
Flavor starts malty and finishes hoppy. Creamy mouthfeel. Maybe a little overcarbonated. Notable dark malt/barley flavors.
Hoppy aftertaste.
Very nice in cool weather. If you pour it with a large head that should reduce the carbonation.
Tap.Dark copper colour with medium head.Aroma of caramel and berries nice toasted and bready with malty and fresh crispy finish.
Bottle from local. Reddish amber colour with a white head. Aroma and taste are malty sweet. Thin body.
Nice head and flavor. Not too heavy. The aftertaste is really nice. Would definitely work through a bunch of these.
Pours a clear reddish brown with an off white head. Aroma of malt and bread. Thin body with light lacing. Taste is very light malts with a faint sweet grainy flavor. Drinkable but lacking any bold lasting taste. Finishes smooth and fairly ordinary with just a slightly bitter bite. OK but not as good as I expected.
Aroma; scents from malts, creamy apple, mild hops, caramel, nice to the nose. Look; normal fawn head, on veiled mahoganish amber body. Taste; flavours from malts, creamy apple, mild hops, caramel, and finishes normally. Evidence for that 3.8 can be enough. Feel; nice body and co². Overall; nice. [8-10cl from can, T@ O'Reilly Men, thanx to Mulligan, Flanagan, Donovan, Branigan, Sullivan, Cunningham, Gach Éireannach, and Saint Patrick.]
330 ml bottle. Mahogany brown color topped by a frothy beige head. Bready malt nose has a touch of sweetness to it. Flavor upfront is a bit of toasted malt and black tea. Perhaps a hint of dark corn syrup in middle. Notes of flat cola soda and cardamom if you use your imagination. Overall, a decent session ale on a blustery cold early spring get together; nothing more.
clear dark amber to mahogany colour, one inch of creamy and long lasting beige-ish ecru head; aroma of dried fruity (plum, cherry and apricot), toast, floral, some nutty and toffee notes; taste is quite similar with some roasted notes; good one
Aroma of bread, toast and light caramel
Pours a brownish red with lasting off white head
Bready malty flavor with earthy hop and light caramel and light roast
Medium bodied with medium co2, light lingering bitterness.
Run of the mill easy drinking Irish red ale.
From old notes. Poured from 11.2 ounce bottle bought as part of mixed six pack from Dent Kroger, tasted on March 17, 2018. Mahogany hue, sweet malty nose, light malty nose. Some soapiness detracts from the taste but the bigger problem is the beer is just too water.
568ml bottle from Stonemanor, The British Store near Brussels.
F: medium, light tan, good retention.
C: dark coppery, clear.
A: malty, bready, light fruity, red berries touch, bit caramel.
T: light malty base, bready, light red fruity, caramel, weak bitterness, soft carbonation, easy drinkable at least.
Very enjoyable. No where near as strong as thought would be
Canned, 440ml from Beers of Europe, Setchey, Norfolk. Red amber with white head. Particularly sweet, soft malts to the fore, quite fruity, berries initially and a note of sweet caramel. There is a cake like note to this, boiled candy. It's okay.
Pours a dark, clear mahogany from a bottle. Malty aroma, biscuits and crackers. Similar flavor, dryish finish. Good beer.
Light red ale! Lot of taste! An Irish staple!
RRed
Amber color poured with a thin white head. Light fruity esters with a malty aroma that finishes with a sweet caramel taste profile. Very good.
Foamy beige head left a spotty cover on a reddish brown still body.
Sweet fruit & malt aroma.
Medium bodied, soft on the palate with a tingle on the back.
Well balanced tastes of berries, sweet fruit, jam & malt.
Deece.
Sept 2020. 440ml can, filtered, from Beers Of Europe. A gently malty and gently sweet beer with a modest dusty, powdery hop bitterness in the finish. An easy drinking beer. That it is gently sweet and has some malt focus makes it somewhat attractive to me, but it is quite thin and soapy, and ends on a not too pleasant powdery bitterness. I can see the appeal, it's almost like a alcoholic cola, but on the whole this is a fairly simple beer, cheaply made. [2.5]
Red body with almost white head. Mild grass with sweet flower aroma. Malty taste with some roast. Clean finish.
As a Smithwick's Red Ale in the bottle. Many thanks for this Irish Ale to Jacek Wigier (wineofdreams@gmail.com). Piwo ma ciemno miedziana barwe, spora i trwala piane. W aromacie przypalony karmel. W smaku goryczkowo-karmelowe, malo slodowe, srednio intensywne
Pours a red brown with an off white head the laces. Nose is roasted malt. Body is medium light. Taste is malt with a slight roast. bitterness is pronounced as iot balnaces the malt. 11.2 oz bottle
12 oz bottle. Pours a brown red tinged with a dense buff head. Lots of lacing. Big malt smells. Super malty with a dry mouthfeel. Astringent and dry flavor. Nice.
Bottle.
A- Subtle iron, malty, caramel, yeasty.
A- Copper color, clear liquid, white head.
T- Slightly sweet, caramel, bread dough, malty.
P- Medium body, average texture, average carbonation, malty finish.
O- Not sure how I hadn't already rated this one. A touch of sweetness and plenty of caramel malt. Not bad. About as you'd expect. Better than the regular Smithwick's.
Bottle at home a brew I figured I must’ve had prior but apparently not. Chestnut pour. Nose is red fruits and malt. Tastes of apple, berry, Malt, earth and caramel. Thinner bodied.
Bouteille de 50 cL offerte par Benjamin. Robe ambrée sombre et légèrement trouble avec une fine mousse brune. Arômes de malts grillés et de caramel. Texture aqueuse, carbonatation moyenne, légère. Notes de malts, de fruits noirs et de caramel. Finale courte et maltée.
Clear deep amber with a large creamy off-white head. Nose: caramel, fruit esters, toffee, metal. Light to medium body. Taste: light sweet, malty, fruity. Drier hoppy ending. Light plus bitterness. Drinkable.
The aroma is malty with hints of caramel and bread; it also has a light grassy hopping. The appearance is amber with a nice medium foamy head. The taste is like the aroma with a hint of salt. The palate is smooth and well carbonated. Overall not bad but comes in less sweet than expected.
440ml can as Smithwick’s Red Ale. Pours clear amber with a tall cascading white head. Aroma is toffee, malt and nuts. Taste is toffee, red fruits, malt, watery.