Imperial Red Ale
Steamworks Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance: Poured in to a Spiegelau IPA Glass. Hazy dark copper, like a penny with a 50 year patina. Pours very nicely, carbonation bubbles are small and tight and continue to rise well after the pour. The head is an antique white, creamy and modest with amazing retention.

Aromatics: First scents are sour and full of tart citrus thanks to the cascade hops. There is also dry earthy pine nettle undertones from the Simcoe hops.

Taste: The hops are the stars here - the aromas definitely give away the strength of the hops bitter, which is a moderate to strong earthy flavour. There is a tad of spice in there somewhere that seems to come more apparent with each sip.

Feel: Creamy and smooth with a slight crisp and bitter bite at the end, finishes fairly clean, with an almost soft licorice feel on the palate.

Overall: A really nice IPA, and dare I say an extremely good example of what West Coast Canada IPAs brewing offers thanks to locally produced hops.

 

 

This poured a nice red colour with minimal head. The nose brings forth lots of citrus hops with some caramel or brown sugar smells. I don't really get much more on the nose. The malt comes forward on the tongue along with some pine resin and citrus fruit, grapefruit especially comes to mind. The flavour profile is quite balanced between bitter and sweet. The carbonation is right down the middle and gives it that crisp finish. This won Best of Show at the Vancouver International Craft Beer Awards this year. I quite enjoyed this and just based on the nice balance I can see why.

 

Very hoppy but worth it, very good beer

Packed full of intense hop bitterness, flavour & aroma. Balanced with complex alcohol flavours & medium high caramel malt character.
MALTS: Maris Otter, Munich malt, Caramalt, Crystal malt & Simcoe
HOPS: Cascade, Centennial & Simcoe
UNIQUE: Dry Hopped & Unfiltered
COLOUR: Dark Copper
IBUS: 80
ALC/VOL: 8.5