Tri-City Brewing Company- Phelan Irish Red: A Roll Of The Dice
Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 8:51PM | by Jason 
A few weeks back, as some of you may know, I was up in Michigan for a wedding and I made a rather large haul of MI brews to take home with me. Most of what I grabbed was brews from breweries that I know of or have heard of but then there were a couple that I grabbed that I had never heard of. For one reason or another I like to roll the dice and see what the unknown (to me) breweries have to offer. This next brew I grabbed because it was an Irish Red and I have to say that Irish Reds are one of my favorite styles and there are very few truly great one but I will never stop hunting for them. Second, I had never heard of Tri-City Brewing Company so I was pretty stoked to try something new. So off to the fridge to crack one open and Phelan Irish Red is poured and ready.
Tri-City Brewing Company classifies this brew as an Irish Red Ale and their website describes Phelan Irish Red as, “Phelan Irish Red is an authentic Irish Ale with its own unique flavor. It is medium bodied with a deep ruby color, moderate malt aroma, and a creamy, tan head.
We use a unique combination of pale ale malt, caramel malts, and roasted barley to give a subdued sweetness with a slight toffee-like quality.
Our multi-step, infusion mash process gives a distinctive maltiness with a dry, clean, roasted grain finish. The malt characteristics are balanced with a light, smooth bitterness and low hop aroma from traditional English hops.” Phelan Irish Red is a 2007 World Expo Of Beer Bronze Medal winner.
Phelan Irish Red pours a dark copper red with a small ¼” tan head. The aroma is mainly sweet caramel malts with hints of bread, some roastyness and fruit.
Tri-City Brewing Company’s Phelan Irish Red is not too bad. It has a solid flavor to it that is distinguishably Irish Red in nature. It is sweet and malty with an earthiness that keeps it balanced. I get no real detectable flavor of any hops but this is in step with the style and characteristic of English hop varieties. Now there are two things that don’t give me a warm and fuzzy with this beer. Towards the end of the flavor I get an odd fruity apple juice like taste and Phelan Irish Red just fails to “WOW” me. This is not necessarily a bad thing but I get the impression that this beer is ok with being middle of the road. I do dig this brew but there are far better Irish Reds that I would much rather grab before this one but that being said, I’d definitely grab me another Phelan Irish Red before a lot of the other crappy Irish Reds out there.
ABV: 4.8%
Consumed: Nonic Pint Glass
Verdict: Buy A Six Pack
