Red Racer Super Solar
Central City Brewers + Distillers

Sept 20 2021

This beer has a dark golden colour and a large head that is temporary. Has a good amount of hops for you ipa drinkers. The can design is cool and the overall flavour is good. Is it the best ipa: no. But it is a good beer and I would recommend

Another standout IPA from Red Racer/Surrey Central Brewery - especially if you are a hound dog for Mosaic and Citra hops like me. Hoppy and somewhat dry, slightly bitter aftertaste that goes down just right (6.0 abv). Two of the best IPA's around (along with Surrey Central's classic 'Red Racer IPA' 6.5 abv) certainly for my tastes. Must be that Fraser River water...

 

Look: Clear orange-tan color. Poured a head with small bubbles which collapsed to a partial skiff across the top after a minute. No lacing. Mostly small bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass.
Smell: Strong funky hop smell with barnyard and a bit of road tar scents. Swirling the glass kicked up more barnyard and freshly composted hops.
Taste: Flavor is dominated by bitter, freshly composted hops. Aftertaste is just more of the same.
Feel: Slowly foams up into small bubbles that grow larger.
Overall: I didn't care for this at all. I wasn't to the point where I would pour it down the sink, but it wasn't something I want to repeat. While I like hoppy IPAs, these hops tasted like they were well past their best before date before adding to the mash. This is not a good example of what this brewery is capable of producing.

On tap at Central City, Vancouver.
Amber-red; Maraschino + canned orange slices; big toffee thread then blood orange + pine needles; salty with plenty of IBUs.

4 4 4 4 3.75

That’s some malty ‘bone! And where’s the supposed Citra + Mosaic? Nice enough, but CC somehow took hipster hops + turned them into a 2007 IPA.

Got this can for free from my central city rep. Was always a big fan of their regular IPA so I was hoping this one would not disappoint.

Sure enough, it does not. Beer pours a great copper colour with lots of visible carbonation and a reasonably long-lasting head. Aroma is faint - mostly just residual hoppiness. Probably the one below-average feature of this beer. Try as hard as I can but I cannot pick much up on the nose.

The taste is superb. Light hoppiness up front but extremely clean aftertaste. No strong boozy hit for 6%. Lots of carbonation, but it is by no means overly harsh.

Yeah as far as IPA goes, this one is a definite winner in my books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hazy golden brown with strong head. Beautiful grapefruit nose. Medium malt body with crisp hop finish. Medium carbonation. A solid IPA.

473ml can - how does this one differ from Super Stellar? The ABV is different, and maybe the hops? Mosaic and Citra are employed here.

This beer pours a clear, bright medium copper amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly ecru head, which leaves some swelling wavecrest lace around the glass as it slowly and evenly sinks away.

It smells of grainy and crackery caramel malt, resinous pine needles, muddled citrus flesh, wet stone paths after the rain, and more leafy, floral, and grassy green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, a touch of biscuity toffee, still hard to parse domestic citrus rind, a minor hard water flintiness, and more somewhat testy leafy, grassy, and piney verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is adequate in its supportive frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and mostly smooth, with just a bit of bitterness tripping up the tongue. It finishes off-dry, the fruitiness and malt essences dealing capably with the lingering hops.

Overall, this is another (new?) pleasantly rendered IPA from this hop-loving brewing concern. Citrus and forest floor detritus dominate, which is exactly what I expect from versions of this style made in the Pacific northwest. Worthy of sessioning, IMHO.