Red Thistle Ale is the flagship beer from Oregon’s excellent Golden Valley Brewery (read my review). Their site describes it as a “Celtic Ale” but it’s really an American Amber in style, nicely drinkable at 5.4% alcohol.

Notes from their site:

The Hops added to the kettle are Chinook, Liberty, Willamette, and Tettnanger with Fuggles used in the steep for aromatics. The use of imported Crystal, Carastan, Roast, and Chocolate malts as well as domestic Two-Row malt creates a complex and bold profile which balances and enhances the aggressive hopping.

Appearance: Amber with tints of orange; thin slightly-tan head.

Smell: Toffee-sweet and pleasant, almost candy-ish. Butterscotch.

Taste: Malty amber base with roasted overtones and more of a bitter hop presence than is evident in the nose. Rich without being cloying.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and pleasant roasty presence on the tongue.

Overall: Enjoyable and drinkable… well-rounded and balanced and it would be nice to have regular access to this.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of B. On RateBeer, it scores 2.97 out of 5 and is in their 40th percentile.