Utopia Planitia
Federation Brewing Co

Draft at the brewery
Fair creamy off white head with fair retention, sticky lacing, crystal clear amber to auburn color

Nose mild sweet biscuity reddish caramel toffee malt, toasted bread crust, mild spicy fruity rye, fair fruity

Taste brings mild spicy rye and herbal spicy hop up front, a bit grassy, then the mild sweet toffee and toasted bread crust, getting a bit spicy med bitterness late, finishes dry and quite bitter and spicy

Mouth is med to a bit fuller bod, med to higher frothy carb

Overall interesting, bordering red/rye ipa, but nice

Pours gorgeous. Almost perfect or maybe I'm lucky. Deep red, amber. Awesome rocky head that lingers with lots of fine foam. The nose disappoints, for me. It has hints of malty sweetness but not much else. It's very thin on the nose. Maybe that's a feature? But I wasn't expecting what came next. The flavor is a huuuuge punch. First sip was so out of line with the thinner nose. Flavor comes with the classic red chocolatey note which fades into the herbal and the strong punch of hops. The beer ends with a very solid and very forward hop bitter note. Pretty complex, nice. Really strong. I think this beer is great.

Deep red with a tan head. Aroma is very malty. I can detect almond and chestnut, caramel malts and the rye gives it an exceptionally malty character. Nice flavor. I pick up cocoa, nut, and lots of rye. The beer is medium bodied, finishes with a slight bittersweet character. Very good.

Poured into pint glass, nice sorta close-to-red pour with 2 finger head. Malty spicy nose, not really picking out anything particular but the taste is wonderful. Well balanced malt-hop character, a little carmel-y, a little hoppy...nothing unique but certainly not boring. A smooth drink, 7+% goes down well. For me it's a great (admittedly small) deviation from the usual IPA styles I drink. I really like this offering!