Each Halloween we release this special concoction to celebrate one of our favorite holidays. Deep blood-red in color, an intense aroma of pine and citrus from an abundance of American hops balances the sweetness and rich, bready flavors of this beer's caramel malts. The result is a fiendishly smooth brew that will make your taste buds scream with delight.

A: Blood-red in color, as expected. It's 100 degrees in San Diego so I let this brew chill down close to freezing...almost no head, but lacing everywhere.

S: Toffee-malts at the front, floral hops round things out. I don't know of there's some placebo-effect due to the Halloween-themed release, but I'm picking up a distinct note of sweet chocolate.

T: And the chocolate is on the palate as well. Toasted malts anchor the flavors, showcasing citrusy and grassy notes. Extremely drinkable - this wouldn't be described as either 'malty' or 'hoppy'. Medium finish, slightly sweet residuals between sips.

M: Medium-heavy body, lightly carbonated.

A tasty beer, delivering what it intends. This along with My Bloody Valentine are always a good draw at local beer bars. (835 characters)

A: The beer is a deep reddish brown color, with a large foamy off-white head that fades slowly and leaves a thick lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains citrus, caramelized malts and floral hops.

T: The taste starts out sweet with strong but not over-powering burst of hops bitterness. Then some citrus and caramel sweetness comes in. The malt character is hearty but not too heavy and brings a good balance. The after-taste is slightly hoppy and slightly sweet.

T: Right off the bat the biscuit malt and deep toffee overwhelm you. Toasted crackers. sweet enzymes. The back end is where the hops hit you. Pine and earthy hops. a hint of something floral. the finish is sweet pineapple and grapefruit before a drying pine bite. delicious.

M: The carbonation is medium to high. It tingles as it goes down. long piney somewhat wet grass finish.

O: Very impressed here. Lots of toast, bread and crackers with a strong delicate balance of sweet hops. This bottle stands no change. Like the necromonicon beware of this beast!

Pours into an impy pint glass a rich deep amber with a billowing one and a half finger beige head that has alot of craters spitting out foam,two broken rings of lace is left behind as it settles slowly into a frothy mass.Sharp grapefruit and English toffee play equal parts in the nose,just great.Leave it to the left coast to get the hoppy amber right again,sweet brown sugar with almost a butterscotch element to it,more caramel lends to the malty sweet side,then a big splash of grapefruit and pine jump out ya in the finish.The malty and hoppy sides of this beer intertwine almost perfectly and the feel is full but mellow at the same time.A damn fine hoppy American red here that has a great malt character as well. (720 characters)

On draft at Newport Pizza in Ocean Beach. $6 - poured into a standard pint glass.

Pours a slightly hazed mahogany hue with a decent off-white head that dissipates within a few sips. Nice lacing. Smell is sweet and malty, a lot of carmel and fresh cut grain, mild hop aroma takes over at the end which was a pleasant surprise. Taste follows suit - lightly toasted grain, carmel sweetness with a nice dose of hoppy bitterness on the back end to keep this from being an overly sweet malt bomb. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, lightly carbonated with lingering bitterness from the hops.

Appearance - Reddish Brown colour with an average size beige coloured head. There is an average amount of carbonation showing and there is some good lacing. The head lasted for around 3-4 minutes before it was gone.

Smell - Malts, hops, caramel, apricots, pineapple

Taste & Mouth - There is a below average amount of carbonation and I can taste malts, caramel, and quite a bit of hops. There is also some apricots, pineapple, and a bit of grapefruit.

Overall - Another winner from Alesmith. A tad pricey perhaps for a repeat purchase, but very well crafted and definitely worth trying once. (637 characters)

Back in the day, if you wanted something that was astringently bitter, you didn't have recourse to boutique hop varieties that remained palatable even as their presence was upped to a pornographic degree. Instead, you had to have the malt accentuate the hops. And the way you did that the easiest was with an aggressive red ale.

This, my friends, joins up with Rogue's Santa's Private Reserve as the best aggressive red I ever did have. I assume (hope?) that the holiday affiliation of each is just a coincidence.

Smells/tastes like a nice mix between orange/pine hops and caramel/malt biscuits. Nice yeasty finish with bitter malt lingering on the back end. (662 characters)

Poured into a 13 oz tulip glass, bottled on 9/20/13. Pours deep ruby, with a one inch tanish head that leaves beautiful lace behind. Smell is orange, caramel, pine, brown sugar, earthy hops, and toffee. Taste is all of that, really nicely balanced, some grapefruit and caramel are left in the finish. Body is medium large for just above average abv, perfect amount of life, not dry, and it is hard to slowly sip, but its larger body warms the insides on a chilly evening. This really nice, maybe the most beautiful red ale I have ever seen. (540 characters)

S: Herbal hops and some citrus. Bready with spicy, resinous pine backing it up. Very hoppy for an amber, that's for sure. Not overpowering or big IPA level, just hoppy for the style.

T: Mildly hoppy up front. Pine and herbs. Spicy in the middle with a nice big bold bready flavor that extends through the finish and into the aftertaste. A little sweet caramel here and there. The bread is really what stands out though. Long lingering bread and toffee between sips but joined with a little spicy, resinous and dank pine.

M: Medium bodied, smooth with just a touch of spicy bite from the hops.

O: Seriously, seriously good amber. Hoppy, americanized, west-coast style version but still excellent. It is in my all-time top 3 along with Zoe and Nugget Nectar. Great melding of big hoppiness with traditional amber qualities. Equally nice maltiness. Excellently crafted. (1,080 characters)

A: Poured from the bomber into a Duvel tulip. Body is a nice mahogany-amber with a small off-white head.

S: Pleasant mix of malt (toffee, caramel malt) and hops - pine and citrus, with a touch of spiciness.

T: Follows the nose, pretty much, with toffee, brown sugar and caramel malt up front, then fruit - cherry and berry - is followed by the juicy, citrusy hops. Finishes with a nice combination of sweetness and hoppiness, with lingering juicy hop bitterness on the palate.

M: Call it medium in heft, with a slightly over-active, but fine, level of carbonation. Reminds me of black cherry soda at times.

Poured into a Dogfish Head pint glass. Pours a mahogany brown with ruby highlights, half finger light brown head that dissipates to a thin film and ring around the glass. Bright aroma of piney hops and bready/biscuit malt. Flavor of biscuit and caramel malt with citrus and mixed berry fruit. Finishes with grassy, orange citrus hops and a nice longlasting malt and bittering hop finish. Medium bodied with some light creaminess. An odd but satisfying take on a red ale. A nice malt body with hard to identify fruit flavors, nicely hopped. Not as scary as advertised. Just read the commercial description and I have to say, I'll bet this would be good with caramel apples, wish I had one on hand. (696 characters)

S-Balanced and rather full on both ends of the spectrum. Lots of grapefruit and candied orange hoppiness. A bit dose of caramel, too. Solid pine hops. Not very complex but it works.

T-The hops are fairly tame here. They start with subtlety and finish with a rising medley of flavors like: grapefruit, grass, lemons, light mint, pine and candied oranges. Caramel and toffee and dense breadiness. Very balanced and the flavors taste more unique than the aroma.

M-A bit full and chewy. Softer bitterness. A bit of a sipper.

O/D-This I have wanted to try for a while. Psyched to see it in bottles. This was a bit of a disappointment, though. A bit too balanced for me and I don't think I'm too enamored with the hop profile here. In the end it's pretty good beer but I didn't live up to my lofty expectations. (937 characters)

taste- hop presence with pine resin and floral notes and subtle dank citrus. Lush, sweet caramel malt-delicious- with caramel and toffee, sticky, raisins and dark fruits as it warms. Finishes nice and dry and toasty with orangey hop zest and and tinge of lemon on the sides of the tongue

What a great beer! Fragrant zesty hops and complex, big malt sweetness. As far as ambers go, this has far more personality and... balls than most. Hops and malt both jump out onto the palate. I might take this over Nugget Nectar, as it offer a bit more malt profile (like an amber should?). cheers, ghouls and misfits! (986 characters)

Poured from a 22 ounce bottle into a pint glass. Bottled November 2013.

A: Great head. Clear, transparent amber. Some effervescence.

S: Smells amazing. Loads of hops. Citrus. Pine. Brilliant.

T: Mmm. Wow. I really enjoy this. Definitely amber -- the malt base is full of caramel sweetness -- but the hops are so obvious, overpowering even at times. However, they are delicious (to me). Very American. Finish is clean and lightly bitter.

Crimson red body with a big light khaki head, forms thick and dwindles slow with large sporadic patterned bubbles left clinging to the sides of my glass. Aroma is full of fresh citric hop notes, earthy pine like accents, and a big fruity malt backbone coming through. Even some pineapple citrus notes that play very well with the red malts. Every Halloween they release Evil Dead Red and every February they release My Bloody Valentine both weigh in at 6.66% abv. You would know right away if these were old, all of the aromas and flavors I'm tasting are popping with freshness, good thing each bottle is dated they just happened to rub off very easily. this was brewed 9/13 I couldn't read the date in the center. But that works drinking this on 10/22/13, I'm dealing with super fresh red ale. The flavor has a pleasant mild soapy hop character think pine and citrus with a pleasant phenolic sweetness, it's actually good and very easy to drink. They were going for a different segment of beer drinkers with this beer not so much the hopheads across the country more so the horror film buffs, who may not know about an Alesmith beer, sure as hell those fans want a taste of Evil Dead Red though. Still Alesmith, still hoppy as hell just not as bitter or as extreme as some of their other offerings, reminds me of the drinkability of their ESB. Overall a smooth taste, and flavor meant to be enjoyed with friends, (1,413 characters)

Poured into a nonfiction tumbler from a 22 oz bottle- pours a clear mahogany color with two fingers of head, great retention and nice splotches of lacing.

Smell is pretty piney as well as some caramel and bread.

Tastes great like everything else from alesmith- like a previous BA said, it's a little sweet up front, followed by pine hops and a little bitterness, then rich caramel and bread notes. Finishes sweet.

Mouthfeel is great- medium to full bodied, modest carbonation. This is a great beer that's not radical but supremely drinkable. I will get it again. (565 characters)

love the deep, dark red color and the creamy head on top. I am hoping they didn't use a dye to accomplish the color though . . . .lots of pine tree aroma, caramel and bread.sweet start, bitter middle, soft at the end. bread at first, and lots of pine.decent stuff. not my flavorite type but very good. (304 characters)