Red Ales — Laurelwood vs. Elysian

Laurelwood
Organic Free Range Red Ale
ABV 5.9%

Color: Diluted cranberry juice.
Aroma: Sweet with piney hops and a savory element, almost like worchestershire sauce, but in a good, mellow way.
Flavor: More sweet than hoppy. Honey and toasted grain with slight acidity.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Balanced.
Finish: Sweet honey maltiness followed by a pleasant bitterness.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Fantastic

Elysian
The Men's Room
Original Red
ABV 5.6%

Color: Reddish-orange.
Aroma: Funky, cannabis hops with sweet malts in the background.
Flavor: Slight citrus at the beginning, but then turns sweet, simple and thin.
Hops vs. Malts (Hoppy, Malty or Balanced): Balanced.
Finish: Not much. Tiny bit of bitterness comes in late.
Overall (Fantastic, Good, Mediocre or Bad): Mediocre

Winner by unanimous decision: Laurelwood.
As we've said before, with red ales you never know what you're going to get. Some of the reds we've had in the past have been phenomenal, others forgettable. So, it was with a mixture of excitement and trepidation that we popped the caps off these two combatants.

If the fight were between the mascots on the bottles, most people would put their money on the restroom devil guy over the chicken and most people would be wrong. The chicken was not messing around and it really dominated the fight from the starting bell — looking redder and tasting better. It had a great balance of sweet to bitter and a fantastic aroma that managed to be sweet and savory at the same time. All in all it was a delicious beer that would go nicely with a variety of foods — might we suggest beer can chicken?

The Men's Room Red is a beer that is brewed for the KISW radio show of the same name. A portion of the profits from sales go to helping support families of military veterans, so if you want to drink beer and support a good cause, get yourself a Men's Room Red. It's not majorly flawed or anything, it just got whooped by a chicken, that's all.