Sunset Stoke
Athletic Brewing Co.

RB transfer

12 oz can, dated 12/05/24

Pours a cloudy dark red color, with cream colored head. Piney hops aroma in top of Caramel malt. Taste is bitter but the hop flavor seems stale even though the beer is fairly fresh. Mouthfeel is good though

 

 

This one is a masterpiece in NA brewing. Amazing in all categories. The pillowy foam head and lacing reminds me of Belgian yeast. I agree with some other reviewers that it leans toward an ESB style hybrid Pale Ale but the combination of maltiness and slight bitter hops works perfectly for me. Fantastic!

 

Poured from a can into a pint glass. Pours deep orange red with a small off white head. Smells of grassy hops with nice citrus notes. Tastes of nice sweet grain with grassy and citrus hops. Beer is light bodied and easy drinking, good carbonation. Overall, a very good NA beer.

 

Had this on 2023-02-20 near Pittsburgh, PA from a 12oz canned on 2022-12-07

A - Clear ruby with a 1.5-finger light tan head a good lace

S -Bread, light citrus and earthy spice

T - Sorghum, cherry, light caramel, pine, grapefruit pith bitterness. Nice combination of flavors

M - Medium+ body and medium carbonation. Pretty smooth and creamy.

O - I know sorghum isn't actually used in this beer. This is well done and if re-released; I'd get it again.

One of the better NA IPAs I’ve had. It’s not a red IPA so much as a west-coasty one, but I liked it well enough. Will order more the next time I need to restock my NA supply. Ranked relative to NAs, as nature and Beer Advocate intended.

Look - amber brown look
Smell - malty citrus pine
Taste - same as smell but the flavors just dont taste good
Feel - light and low carb
Overall - not a fan of this one

 

 

Not bad for a non-alcoholic beer. It has a good IPA flavor.

It came across like a hoppy IPA but was a bit over 6 months old and tasted like it. But acceptable for an NA beer.

Poured from 12oz can into a dimpled mug. The date on the can is illegible, but this beer is relatively new so I assume it's relatively fresh.

Appearance: dark brown-orange hue with a touch of haze and a finger of frothy ivory foam. Looks good enough, but it's a bit on the dark side for an IPA, in my opinion.

Smell: sweet, malty aroma with earthy, vegetal hops. Again, not at all bad, though it seems rather wort-ey.

Taste: malty and sweet, with earthy hops and a mild bitterness. This feels more like an ESB or something to me, rather than an IPA. Don't get me wrong, it's good for non-alcoholic, but I wouldn't call it an "IPA".

Mouthfeel: medium-rich body with a good level of carbonation and creaminess. This is usually where NA beers suffer the most, and also where Athletic really seems to excel. Great!

Overall: this beer isn't bad, but other IPAs from Athletic that I've had are much more ... IPA-ey than this.

Poured from the can into a hopside down/tulip pint glass. Good head build with high frothing and thick creamy high crown with uneven open/closed bubble crown. Cascading to clarity quickly. Average carbonation from the high quick build cone with a descending head within 5-10 minutes to excellent lacing. Open/closed bubbles with spotting rings suggesting good adhesion. Indeed as drank the walls retain the resin residue very well. Body is near clear with some opaqueness amber golden orange body with red highlights in the denser center with more golden yellow/orange at the edge. Just beautiful to look at overall. Bordering on perfect. Would like a little more carbonation but I could border on being picky here. Also this is more amber than red by far so from a style note I had to deduct some points there, but I'd rather they keep the color and lose the points than add some artificial dye to make this "look right" so please don't do that.

Aromas of stone fruit, grape fruit, citrus rind (lemon, orange, mango), lemon grass, lemon cookies, and pine. Opens from the can into the glass a bit more, but even in the can this has huge aroma. Big lush new age West Coast aromas of hops and malt. Again bordering on perfection and I could be picky here. Would like a bit more malt to come through, but boy did they nail that West Coast modern IPA smell. Even a bit of dankness and sour there albeit on the secondary after some warming.

Tastes on the front palette of guava, papaya, stone fruit, grape fruit, and a bit of lemon cookie malt backbone. Mid-palette you get some caramel and biscuit, but there is a huge grapefruit rind, stone fruit, orange rind, and pine needles on the tongue notes. Back palette is a nice solid grape fruit pungency, with some dank of horse of blanket, mushroom must, and pine tree forest. I feel like I step out in the Canadian north on a warm January day and sucked on the scents of the forest somehow... a surreal and maybe off-putting flavor profile but I promise you it is simply fabulous. That dankness and bitterness just melts into sweetness and syrupy malted backbone in perfect balance. Not bitter, not sweet. Not malted, not hoppy. It is just near perfection on the tongue. And that solid grape fruit/pine needle note highlights the whole trip without being over bitter or offending. It is just wonderful and again near perfection. I would like more backbone to the malt and again-- I could be picky here, but that's where my head is at. Just one caramel roasted malt note away from perfection.

After taste is clean with some pine, grape fruit rind, and a bit of orange zest. Some cinnamon buns and fresh biscuit too. Very full mouthfeel dissipates to crushable wetness after a few minutes, but that mouthfeel does hold up very well as expected and proper to the style. Somewhere between milk and OJ in viscosity. Just right for an IPA.

Overall this is a very good IPA. Is it West Coast modern/new age leaning? Yes. Nailed it. Is it a red ale IPA? No... it's not red but taste wise... nailed it. So does it end up perfection (i.e. 4.5 or higher)... no, but either way I would not pick too much here. You have a non-alcoholic beer that gives 6-8% ABV West Coast IPAs a run for the money and probably at half the cost per pint. Did I mention it's like 85 calories? If you're going for a light beer over this I'm looking at you... long and hard... with beady angry eyes... ignore the ABV and order this instead. Those looking at this as I tried it said they would not know this is NA and me drinking it... it was kind of hard to me to as the guy drinking it believe it. But it's true. This is NA beer, but not the NA beer your grandpa or uncle remember. No. This is something new. And in this case new is good. Very very very nice job Athletic. Brilliant West Coast IPA... that happens to be NA. 4.25 out of 5. Bordering on excellent and highly recommended.

 

They call this a red, but color is more a dark amber to me. Smell is much more like a hazy IPA, sweet, with plenty of orange juice. Taste is a bit different from the smell, but very nice, hop forward with plenty of bitterness and complexity. Lots of grapefruit. Mouth feel is a good as you can expect for an NA, light but with some substance. Overall not super different from Free Wave, but I'm ok with that.

A: The beer is relatively clear amber in color and has a light to moderate amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a quarter finger high off white head that left some lacing down the sides, a narrow collar around the edge, and lots of lacing down the sides of the glass.
S: Light to moderate aromas of malts are present in the nose - caramel seems to stand out in particular - along with notes of citrusy hops.
T: The taste follows the smell and has flavors of caramel malts and citrusy hops with hints of pine and a light to moderate amount of bitterness.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied and a little crisp on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: I found this Red IPA to be quite flavorful for a low alcohol beer. The strength of the malts seem a but muted compared to old school IPAs that had a good balance between malts and hops but this is very well done for its style.

Serving type: can