Fire Barrel Red IPA
Bent Water Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

Pours clear copper in color with 1/3 inch head. Taste is caramel, big rye, and grain. Medium bodied and carbonation, slightly bitter. Super tasty, marzenesque. Makes for a great introduction to the brewery.

 

 

This is only my second beer from Bent Water, but it's already quite clear to me that they're the best thing to ever happen to Lynn, Massachusetts. I kid, I kid... but seriously both this and Viskiss are quite enjoyable beers that have great drinkability and solid, balanced profiles. I pretty much went into this completely blind and bought a sixer of it without knowing much other than that it's an amber/red-hued rye-based beer with Fuggles hops. I figured, at worst, it'll probably be a decent enough Fall beer with some herbal hop qualities and a nice, spicy malt bent. I mean, what could go wrong?

Turns out, not much! That's always a good thing. This poured beautifully into my glass, with a 15-16 SRM medium amber color topped off with a towering head of off-khaki foam that laces extraordinarily well. This is just gorgeous. Great clarity and solid streams of bubbles rising intensely and constantly. Excellent appearance.

Nose is very autumnal, with spicy rye brought to the forefront, toasted bread, some floral and herbal hops with light pine and roasted nuts backing it all up. Kind of reminds me of Baxter's incredibly-seasonal Hayride without the adjunct spices and with less of a hoppy bent. More conservative here, for sure, but it's still a very nice scent.

Flavor is nutty, bready and earthy with a delicate rye spice and a light acidic bitterness kicking in towards the middle of the palate. This is surprisingly very unlike any other IPA currently on the market, and I have a feeling that has to do with the English hops as well as the rye and crystal malt focus. People have done this with red IPAs before, but the combination of English hops and rye malt changes things up a bit. I think it's a cool choice because it removes the focus on the fruity and aggressive hops commonly being utilized in IPAs, especially in MA/New England, and replaces that with a supportive, firm bitterness and light botanical and spice notes. This just drinks really solidly, has a very consistent flavor profile that is at once hard to place and weirdly familiar, and is just overall well-made. Carbonation is on-point as well.

Overall, this is definitely a very good beer. It's eminently enjoyable and drinkable with a somewhat unique flavor profile and a seasonally-apropos feel. Hard to define in a sense (rye beer? American amber/red ale? IPA?), but this was a random six pack purchase I definitely don't regret. Great stuff!