Scarlet Dawn IPA
Founders Brewing Company

Copenhagen 29/5 2022. 35,5 cl can from Meny, Rotunden, Hellerup. Red can with a stylized and expressive sun dawn.

Pours almost clear dark amber with a big off-white head. Stable. Settles as thin almost transparent layer of foam. Crawling up the sides of the glass. Substantial lacing.

Aroma is fairly intense with a sweet, malty and a bit toasted odor mingling with a more subdued citric scent. Caramel and toffee. Hints of sugar sweet candy. Citrus and lemon.

Medium strong carbonation. Slightly thick, oily, lightly tingling texture.

Flavor is medium intense with a medium strong sweetness followed by a slightly stronger bitterness. Aftertaste is bitter with a light sweet undertone. Lingers for a while. Finish is semi-dry.

Well balanced hybrid of an Amber Ale and a Indian Pale Ale. But more toasted caramel than fruity bitterness.

 

 

 

 

Poured into a grip shaped goblet: color is amber, nearly transparent, head is light tan with fine bubbles, head presents 1 finger thick and lingers really well with nice lacing on the glass sides.

Smell is caramel, toast, light toffee, earthy/piney/light citrus hops.

Taste is caramel, toast, floral, earthy, piney hops, some citrus: big flavor that works much better than most session IPAs at this strength.

Mouthfeel is low/moderate carbonation, moderate sweetness, moderate bitterness, a lingering drying bite on the tongue.

Overall: big flavor in session profile, wish there were many more like this - malty, drinkable, hoppy.

Founders Brewing Co. "Scarlet Dawn IPA"
12 fl. oz. can "CANNED ON 08.24.21-204159 4"
$2 @ Cherry Hill Wine, Liquor, & Beer, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: Alrighty then, here we go with a session red IPA at 5.1% ABV. My Brit friends would argue that a beer of 5.1% is too strong to be a session ale but keep in mind that this is a "session" IPA, so of course it will be stronger. Can there be a session IPA? Of course, it just has to be hoppier. Let's get on with it then, shall we? It's poured a hazy crimson-copper colored body beneath a full head of off-white foam. The aroma is certainly hoppy but not overtly so. Damn it! I wanted to make a joke about the name being reminiscent of some bad 80's movie but I missed it. OK, it's piney, floral, and lightly citrusy over a delicately caramelish malt base. The taste follows and I don't really have anything else to add to that beyond the bitterness. I guess it's a little bready as well, and there's maybe a touch of apple, but the aroma basically gives it all away. A firm bitterness balances it... what is it?... 45 IBUs. It actually seems more like 50 to me but whatever, it's balanced as you'd expect it to be if it was an even stronger beer. This is a clone of the red pale ales and IPAs that were popular, what... 15 years ago? Yeah, they've hit the nail on the head with this one if that's your thing. I should also point out that the head retention and lacing are both excellent.In the mouth it's medium-light to light-medium in body and gently crisp-then-smooth. It's pretty hard to argue against unless you want to get into the session ale and IPA side of things. It's just a solid amber ale that would be great for camping, or almost any activity other than those in the heat of the summer sun, and even then it could be argued for. Does it reach a level of greatness? No, but it's perfectly balanced and nicely rounded with a decent amount of complexity.
Review #7,867

 

 

 

 

 

12oz can

Look is an amber-red snowglobe of fine suspended sediment. Smells vaguely hoppy and amber-y. Taste is very heavy on the savory malts, lots of biscuit and white bread too, with pine throughout.

Impressive flavor for a session beer

Canned 8/24/21

Oh man, I love Celebration! Oh wait, upon further inspection that is NOT what I picked up. So I’m going into this with the expectation of it being a Celebration clone, but maybe I’ll be wrong and it’ll take on it’s own identity. Let’s find out

Pours a cloudy brownieh orange with 2 fingers of light tan head that slowly fades to a thin cap and leaves decent lacing

Upon first whiff, it’s definitely related to Celebration, but not identical. I’m picking up on aromas of sweet toffee, peppery hops, orange zest, biscuity malt, and light pine

In taste it takes more of a bitter approach (despite the age) that works quite nicely. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting pithy grapefruit, peppery hops, lemon rind, crackery malt, and light toast. The swallow brings notes of pithy grapefruit, burnt toast, biscuity malt, light toffee, and orange zest

A medium body pairs with moderate carbonation, resulting in a brisk beer. Finishes off dry and quite bitter

This is by no means a bad beer, it’s just not impressive in any way. I like the more aggressive bitterness it goes for, but it almost becomes too much on the swallow. Oh well

CAN
Stiff, clingy ecru head over glowing ruby; orange zest, strawberry + caramel on the nose; toffee, candy apples, orange pith, burnt grass; bitter, light, fizzy.

4 4 3.75 4 4

Starts out looking + smelling like it might be a little juice bomb. But as much as I don’t acknowledge that Red IPA is a style, this is not a resiny amber, even if I want it to be.
There is some scratchy citrus (no hops listed gotta suspect Centennial coming from Founders) + bits of crystal but it soon gives way to peppery bitterness. It takes over more as it opens, overshadowing any hop flavour + dark malt sweetness - it even cuts the oiliness, making this thinner than it needs to be.
Ends up drinkable, though not as fun as it should be.

Not quite the second coming of 5 A.M. Saint, but close.

 

12 FL. OZ. can
Served in a nonic pint glass

This beer pours copper colored with burnt orange highlights and a slight haze. It is topped with a couple inches of tan head that disappears quickly leaving spotty lacing.

Citrus and light pine. Some toasted biscuit notes.

Nice balance of hops and malt. Grapefruit rind and pine. Toast and cracker from the malt

Medium bodied with an effervescent mouthfeel

I was worried about a watered down taste when I saw it was a session IPA. I like it better than that All Day IPA. Decent for a tailgate party. IPAs are just not Founders strong suit.

Poured looking like a strong iced tea, but with a pencil thick sand colored head that left fair lacing. Looked good.
Aroma was muted for me, but that may not be the beer's fault. Still, what I got was malts with a touch of spice.
Taste - this was a 12 oz can poured into a stemless goblet so wasn't expecting much developing between the start and the finish, but it managed to surprise me. The first few sips seemed focused on the hoppy pine flavor, almost rye (Or was I thinking longingly for Red's Rye) and by the time I got to the end, the bitterness subdued and the caramel and bread malts took the lead. Tasty.
The feel was good; perfectly appropriate. Might have scored it higher if I hadn't been paying so much attention to the taste.
OA, not sure it is focused enough as a session beer for regular consumption (There are maltier, or hoppier, or whatever session beers out there) but will happily drink a few if that's what is available.

APPEARANCE: Clean amber, with nice off-white head and minimal clouds of lace.

NOSE: Caramel toffee malts, and some citrus hops. Pleasant.

TASTE: Bitter grapefruit/citrus hops and plenty of toasty caramel malts. Balanced enough and easy to drink, but not a favorite with the malts taking over the palate and leaving a weird finish. Not one I’d return to.

Found this to be a run-of-the-mill red ale. Not bad, just not my thing and on par with most average red ales. Taste is malty with that typical red ale flavor. A heavier drink than typical IPA, pilsner, kolsh.