Red Rock IPA Junior
Red Rock Brewing Company

love the label on this one, cool art, but had it on tap, a solid pint, some malt to it makes it seem kind of old school, but it does have a juicy modern well dry hopped complexion overall, and some substance for being only 5% abv, a plenty serviceable happy hour pint without changing my life or anything. great clarity on this, shiny and brass colored, high white airy head from the tap with good retention and lace, high carbonation, a real nice looking pour. smells just a tad off fresh, light metallic character to the sweeter malt this is built upon, a little richer to me there overall than it looks, pine forward hops with definite northwestern personality, some bitterness for a session type, but also subtle orange, mango, and sativa buds, fairly potent really. i think it smells marginally better than it tastes, freshness a factor, need to try this newer next time, or when i can confirm its date, but it presents on my palate as both quite malty and rather intensely hoppy, there isnt a clash, but its not as cohesive as it could be, minerals leaning a little coppery to me with the oxidation, not an ideal combination with the turned up late bitterness this has, which i actually respect in the style, but its just a little out of proportion to me here, and the linger is long, slightly sweet, and a wee bit harsh without quite being green and biting. it warms to nuances of cooked orange, marmalade on toast, pineapple, and spruce in spring, there are fresh elements here, a note of orange blossom honey, toffee, and biscuit are also present, some floral and fruit back and forth from the hops, woodsy and big as it drinks, bitter late, weedy a bit, packs a lot in for its modest abv, aftertaste of cardboard and pennies, a common palate of early deterioration in this style, but good after a long day of work anyway. each time i visit utah i am impressed with the diversity of craft beer available, way ahead of its reputation and frankly salt lake is a destination worthy beer town. solid ipa here, will revisit again for sure, more robust than many if you like them sturdy!

Canned 7.28.23

Purchased for $1.80 at local grocer.

Poured at fridge temp into a tulip glass.

Pours a deeper golden with a generous 1F dense head. 4

Gentle and dark pine, with some lighter citrus, orange and grapefruit mostly. 3.75

Moderately bitter pine, some mixed but non-distinct citrus and a herbal/resinous aftertaste. 3.75

Sessionable and easy drinking, moderately carbo'd, pleasantly light. 4

Overall a good wc IPA that's a fairly good deal and brings the pine without causing palate fatigue. 3.75

2023-04-02
16oz can served in a footed pilsner glass. LOT 2989/03/07.23, although I'm about 60% sure I can't read it correctly. Got it from @NorsemanOne in a trade.

Pours clear light gold with a fairly small head. Smell is muted, I get a hint of citrus and pine (but my olfactory sense is probably the muting factor at the moment).

Taste is light, crisp, citrus in nature with a little bit of a grainy note. Slow piney finish.

Mouthfeel is smooth, maybe a bit more still than I would really like. Overall, it's pretty good.

Poured a nearly clear honey color with a tall white head. There was a cloudy substance near the top which I guess is why they tell you not to filter it.
Always give a good score for the aroma that I cannot smell, Covid messed up my nose, the beer didn't.
The taste was a pretty solid IPA , albeit with hops that I'm not used to so the flavors were new to me and while I enjoyed it quite a bit, there are other IPAs that I would grab first. There was a little pine and some herbal flavors that I couldn't define. But they seemed to play well together.
The feel was just shy of excellent, I kept thinking about the 'cloud' I saw at the pour so just over thought this one.
OA, I'd happily drink these if that's what was available, good 5% ABV IPA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crystal clear gold colored beer with a small white colored head.

Smells strongly of grapefruit and pine board.

Starts out woody and slightly bitter with a grapefruit after taste. Taste doesn't evolve very much, pretty basic IPA flavor here. Mild bitterness on the lower part of the IPA scale.

Mouthfeel is OK, not watery.

Overall not a bad beer made to fit Utah's Asinine beer laws. A decent beer that can be sold in a Utah Supermarket.

 

Very pale—essentially blonde—with a nice, medium-foamed head and good lacing at of the bomber. I agree with a previous reviewer that this Red Rock offering—perhaps due to Utah's statutory limitations—leans mightily towards the XPA arena, but to me that isn't a problem. Indeed, there are nice, unburdensome notes of grapefruit; a buoyant herbaceousness—hints of sage, and a little laurel—that really keeps the bitterness at bay until the finish; and the pale malts are crisp, smooth (even a bit wheaty, almost), and well-balanced with the hopping and the held-down abv. The nose, meanwhile, is excellent: grapefruit, again, along with wet wild sage and the currents of a clean sea-breeze. While laws may stipulate and mitigate what Utahns can brew, Red Rock has done well under those auspices with this one.

 

 

 

 

Beer #6 in the great Utah Brew Hunt.

Bam, hops all up in my mouth. It's a bit one dimensional and one-sided on the hop influence, but it doesn't really matter too much as it works, for what it is. The low abv is fine with me as it means I can drink more of them. Too bad I didn't start my night out with this one; I may have just stuck with it for the rest of the evening.

A: Orange, very cloudy (more than what would be expected from a dry hopped beer), no head. Like a flat hefe

A Sweet citrusy, spicy aroma.

T: classic cascade bittering, grapefruit, nice lingering bitterness, very slight toasty maltiness, didn't have the nice bright clean flavor of a american ale, I suspect from the haze problems or possible water issues.

M: very under carbonated

There is a 4.0% abv limit on draft beer in Utah, so this isn't brewed to full strength, hence the JR name. Not very impressed overall--in my opinion is flawed and just not exciting to drink. A flat, plain, boring beer...not what the style means to me.