Emmett's Brewing Company's McCarthy Red Ale

This is a first review for Emmett's Brewing Company; brace yourself.

Emmett's Brewing company is located in West Dundee, Illinois, north of Chicago and started up in 1998. The whole thing was started up by the Burns family as a restaurant in some old ass building. The name, Emmett, was the name of Tim Burns' (co-founder) father and was used to pay homage to the man whose fundamental principles in life were hard work and self-reliance.  Since then, they've spread to a total of three locations all located in the greater Chicago area.

Their beers' ingredients are imported depending on the style of beer they are making. Currently, they have about 5 different kinds to tickle your taste buds.

So what the heck is up with this beer? Glad you asked.  This beer is a fairly full bodied with a thick, frothy head. As you can clearly see, the foam is heavy and sticks to the glass nicely. It has a sweet, caramel-like flavor but ultimately has a malty, well balanced flavor with a hoppy, semi-bitter aftertaste. The ABV is a mere 5.2% and I paid $5.50 for a pint as a bar that was selling pretty much all their drafts at around the same price. It'll run you a little more than a bullshit Budweiser, but as far as microbrews are compared I'd say it's average priced.

This beer is tasty and heavy enough that if you drink two or more of them, it will subside your appetite or about an hour or so. I mean you can hardly see through the glass so you know it's a little heavy, but flavorful.  They have a pretty nice, no nonsense label that if someone sees you drinking this they know you mean business. Straight up.  I'd get this beer again and try a few more malty beverages out of their books. Two thumbs up.

I usually say that reviews are not nearly as fun when I like the beer and this is living proof. Sorry for neglecting the poo-poo and pee-pee jokes.


Drinkability: 5/10
Taste: 8/10
Value: 5/10
Curb Appeal: 7/10

Overall: 6.3/10