Round 2: #2 Glissade vs #5 Irish Red

The next match-up of the second round features another 2 seed versus a 5 seed. This time it's sierra Nevada's Glissade against Sam Adam's Irish Red. The palate cleanser will be lime Tostitos. Glissade has a nice caramelized fruit and honey flavor, but also an overbearing yeast flavor and not the best hop balance. The chips are really limy in this bag. Irish Red has nice caramel flavors with hop bitters up front and on the finish. The chips with the most tiny green dots are the best. Let's go to the video tape.

The Sam's is a decent beer it's got good balance, but kind of a poor finish. Sierra Nevada could use some more malts to balance the loud hops and yeast. I really liked this much better last time. It's amazing how the equation changes when you have different beers, different flavors. The Glissade is starting to get very low in the glass I might be warming up to it. Boy both glasses are down we have to go into overtime. Going quickly sip to sip neither dominates the other. Red has the balance, Glissade has more alcohol. Neither competitor is playing their best right now, but it just wasn't Glissade's day. They lose a nail bitter in overtime. I really can't believe I like the Red more, but there it is. The Red was just a bit better and it rightfully advances to the Flavorful Four.

Sierra Nevada

Sam Adam's

#2 Anchor Bock vs #7 Saranac Irish Red

Switching to the North-east Bracket we go to our last Irish Red to go in the first round. It's the #2 seed Anchor Bock, a spring bock out of San Francisco, against the #7 seed Saranac Irish Red Ale out of Utica, New York. It's left coast versus east coast. The palate cleanser will be a roast chicken fresh out of the oven. Saranac pours out a light amber red while the Anchor is a not quite opaque dark brown. The Irish Red has a little hop on the nose that yields to a brown sugar scent,unusual. The bock starts yeasty with a bit of chocolate and caramel on the nose. The Saranac has that slight caramelized fruit which yields quickly to a decent hop bitterness. Pick at some chicken, wow the skin is crispy with a spicy herb rub, delicious. Anchor has made a bock with good malts and mocha flavors, but a surprising blandness, and barely detectable hops that appear only on the finish. This could be an upset.
Uummm, chicken. Alright time to put them head to head sip for sip. The Anchor lacks balance and the relatively weak hop in the Saranac overwhelms the bock. The bock fires back with a strong body and richness. I don't know if this #2 seed is going very far if it can't dominate this level of competition. Of the three Irish Reds in this tourney the Saranac is the weakest. More chicken. I look at the glasses and notice that the Anchor is quite a bit lower, you just can't ignore the evidence. The bock pulls out a squeaker, but how will it do in the next round against a tougher foe? You never know how the match-ups will end up.

#4 Harpoon Celtic Ale vs #5 Sam Adam's Irish Red

In honor of Saint Patrick's day we start the Spring beer tourney with a showdown between two Irish Spring beers. That might be worst beer idea I can think of, an "Irish Spring" beer. The #4 seed in the Mid-East region, Harpoon Celtic Ale, versus the #5 seed Sam Adam's Irish Red. Harpoon Celtic Ale is an Irish red Ale from Boston, they have a brewery in Vermont as well. For each of these match-ups I will be using a different palate cleanser after trying each beer. This time the palate cleanser is a baked ham.
Both of these pour out a nice redish amber, with the Sam being noticeably darker. Harpoon has a nice mild hop and caramelized malts. Sam has more hop, but a scant nose in general. The Harpoon has very little hop up front, but it appears after some nice caramel tones and plays on the finish. Sam Adam's comes out much the same, but with slightly more malts, and more hop bitterness on the finish. Have some ham. The Sam's clearer got more body and a bit more flavor. On the other hand, the harpoon is very smooth and balanced. Let's have some more ham, this is a close one. Next I'm going from one to the other without any ham in between. I like both these beers, but the flavors in the Sam Adam's overwhelms the Harpoon head to head. It was close for a while, but Sam Adam's Irish Red pulls out the victory in a slight upset.

Sam Adam's Irish Red

Irish Red is the second of the three beers in the Sam Adam's Brewmaster's Collection. This red ale pours out a lovely Dark amber red color, and when you hold it up to the light it shows very orange. Two colors in one, cool. The first sniff brings very little, but start pouring it down your gullet and the situation improves. This is a malt heads beer. Yes, there is a little bit of hoppy bite to balance it out, but it has that malted flavor to it. I,m just fine with that, but some thing is lacking here, almost like it's not quite finished. I could put down a few of these, and I think they would be good with complex spiced food. Yes it's better than the coastal wheat, but I hope the last entry can kick it up a notch.Oh, I tried to get an Irishman to give me his perspective on this , but they all either too drunk or engaged in some sort of fisticuffs.