Local Celebrity IIRA
Hellbent Brewing Company

Nice looking beer. A pretty amber color, nice solid head, good lacing. Nose is malt and yeast, some grassiness / herbals. A 'dense' taste is how we describe it...not light on the tongue, solid malt base, modest hops. Brings up pumpernickel bread, some jammy notes and piney hops come forward as the beer warms up a little bit. Take it easy, that 8% ABV will sneak up you in a hurry. Very nicely done. It's rare to find an "imperial red ale" and they do it justice.

Poured into a Reuben's Brew pint glass. Pours a medium to dark coppery amber with a fine, two finger ivory head with great retention and thick lacing; looks nice. Aroma of pale malt, citrus and piney hops, light apple and berry juice. Flavor follows with pale malt, citrus and piney hops, orange, grapefruit, pine needles, mild berry and apple family fruit juice. Lingering, resinous piney hop finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. Hmmm. There is much less red ale berry fruit character to this than expected. On the other hand, the malt has some good body and the hop bill is classic NW citrus and pine and in my book that's a winner. I really liked this quite a bit, but it was a bit disconcerting expecting it to be an imperial red. There is some mild fruit character expected from the style, but hops and clean, crisp malt are the stars here. I liked this enough that I'm reviewing it to taste, not so much to style. Looks, smells and tastes great.