Scarlet Fire IPA
Big Time Brewery & Alehouse

draught
Foamy, off-white head. Translucent, dark orange with amber highlights. Very much of a medium heavy toasted and caramelized malt aroma with a good amount of a pumpkin spice and tangerine peel, on the side and a touch of banana/bubble gum. Quite ample presence of mouthfeel and flavors of malted tangerine peel which is fairly sharp but not biting and a pleasant, subtle, mixed spice laden, medium heavily toasted barley malt, with a nearly sweet (off-dry) touch, up front. Really balanced, spiced malt and citrus peel finish. Do imbibe, if it pleases you.

perhaps my favorite beer i had in here, full of flavor, balanced, quintessentially northwestern, and sort of from the old school, drinkable though, a nice way to wrap up an awesome day of beer drinking with a bunch of long lost friends, and really a pretty solid ipa all the way around, especially if this is the branch of the style you are into. there is some definite maltiness to this clearish copper colored brew, and just a gorgeous white head on it, almost a nitro sort of look about it, pretty retention too, web lacing all the way down to the last sip in the glass. some pine in the nose, quite northwestern, with some citrus bitterness as well, a bit of a resinous thing about it, and a near perfect transfer to the taste. a little more hefty a malt base than it needs, even with the relative intensity of the hops. lots of cooked grain, almost porridge character here, and some sweetness weighing it down a bit. i like the flavors here, even with the maltiness, my biggest criticism is the mouthfeel, its way under carbonated, which was the case with a lot of their beers, and even with the nice lace and all, it felt really flat to me, combined with the residual sweetness it was a one and done beer for me, but i still definitely enjoyed it. all the beers in here were a half step away from being very good i thought...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cask at Old Town, Ballard

a: served in a standard shaker pint, it’s a deep orange-amber in color with a good two fingers of heavy carbonation on the surface, retains well and leaves good lace

s: nice start - grapefruit and pine hop aromas ride over a full body of caramel grain, some fruits and sugars, very appealing

m: smooth medium cask body with a level of carbonation on the low end but not as “flat” as some cask experiences

t: a solid but not overwhelming caramel malt structure balances a hop bill that blends sweet/acidic grapefruit and sappy pine, nice grainy flavors, an initial grain sweetness moves towards a pleasantly strong bitterness

o: a blind choice that turned out nicely, scarlett fire is a crafty ipa and one worth returning to, not much more to ask from a west coast ipa