Red Rambler Ale

Okay, tonight’s beer is the Red Rambler Ale from Peace Tree Brewing. It gets its unique name from the fact that Peace Tree Brewing’s facility is located at an old Nash dealership in Knoxville,

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Iowa. It comes in a bottle similar to Red Stripe but all three of Peace Tree’s bottled beers have extremely unique and nifty-looking labels.

The beer is pretty good. You can really taste a caramel malt in the initial sip, but then it is followed pretty quickly by the hops which nicely balance it out. It seems to have slightly above average carbonation, but that might just be because I’ve been on a stout kick for the last week so most anything seems to be heavily carbonated.

There is one significant downside to the Red Rambler that really makes it harder for me to like. Although I enjoy it, I want to enjoy it more. I had the chance to try Peace Tree’s Blonde Fatale at Brewfest and was blown away. It isn’t currently available in stores so I’m probably not going to be able to get another taste of it until I schedule a visit to their brewery sometime. Red Rambler was good, but I spent a lot of time drinking it wishing I had a Blonde Fatale. It’s premature to say so after a single tasting at a brewfest, but Blonde Fatale has serious potential to join the exclusive ranks of my favorite Iowa-brewed beers.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to ramble on and on about another beer during a review of Red Rambler, but it happens sometimes. Since the best way to wrap up a beer review is to talk about the finish, here it is. Red Rambler finishes with a mildly bitter creamy flavor in the back of the mouth, very pleasant.

I liked Red Rambler a lot, but at $9.50/6-pack I’m not sure I would buy it again. I’m willing to pay a premium for either premium beer, or above average local brews, but not very often. Until it comes down in price slightly I think I’ll have to be satisfied with one six-pack of each of their bottled beers. I already got to the Hop Wrangler, I guess Rye Porter is up next!