Rae's Red
Barrio Brewing Company

 

Sampled on tap at Barrio Brewing; March 2011
This has a red amber color and it is topped by a tan head. The aroma has lots of caramelized citrus notes to it. This has a huge, fruity hoppiness with notes of peach, lychee, ripe tangelo as well as spicy pepper-like hops and an herbal almost vegetal hop notes. The malt comes into play in the nose with a big toasted cracker note in the finish as well as a touch of biscuit-like character.

The beer tastes of herbal, bitter, green hops, menthol and pine up front. This is joined by fruit-leaning hop notes reminiscent of tangerine, citrus zest, berry notes (from both the malt and hop combination) and grapefruit. There is a fair amount of pine and light herbal hop notes here. The texture is a bit chewier than I might prefer, but it is not heavy or cloying at all and even manages to be somewhat quaffable. As the beer warms the balance moves towards the crystal malt side of things; there is almost a toffee or buttery character (that I don’t think is diacetyl derived) as well as flavors reminiscent of sweet tea, and a crystal malt sweetness that is very rich and luckily not simplistically sweet. There is alcohol noticeable in the finish that provides a spiciness, especially as it warms up, and this can almost be hot at times. The hops always play the lead role though.