Rogue Brewing Company's XS Imperial Red

I seriously hate the little bottle.

Pours a fairly deep, loosely filtered reddish brown with a nice tan head. Big, bready smell.

Pretty good punch to it, about like an imperial pale should be, although it has a pretty harsh bitter aftertaste. I don't know, seems kind of meh overall, although that may be because it's a pretty bland style to take imperial. It should be closer to an IPA, but it just, isn't.

Laguinitas Brewing Company's Imperial Red Ale

Finally, a Lagunitas beer without a stupid name.

Pours a deeper red than most, so that's another step in the right direction. Decent enough tan head that thins to a sheet, which is fairly standard for a red/amber.

Nice, sweet smell. Kind of a light, floral hops, which adds to the sweet smell. Not bready, or grainy, just sweet.

Good hit, close to an IPA. The hops are grassier than I expected, which I guess is what makes it taste like an IPA to me. Sure, it's basically an amber and an imperial amber is basically an IPA, but still. And because of the sweetness, it also reminds me of a substantially lighter Old Foghorn, from Anchor.

Very nice beer. I like just about everything Lagunitas brews, just not what they call them.