Sundown Sinner
Drylands Brewing Company

a sturdy and decent red ipa, a little small timey but short of full amateurish to me, and a style i like that we dont see around as much anymore, it had a moment awhile back, but its long passed, and it was cool to see a red ipa in the wild again. my first beer from these guys, never even heard of them before, and this was the better of the two i had from them by quite a little ways. amber colored from the tap, a little muted looking in terms of shine but nice depth of color and a real high burlap colored head of stacked tiny bubbles well over an inch tall. it smells balanced, the toasted and nutty grain aspects balancing some of the piney hops, a little old school to me, lightly astringent too from the ferment, but there is enough going on here that its not a huge issue, citrus pith bitterness, christmas tree freshness, and light toffee to the malt without being overly sweet. the flavor is also balanced with hops in the lead though, grapefruit and juniper, some resin, and a baked heartiness to the malt, almost bran-like, earthy, if this were a tad cleaner on the swallow it would be a real nice brew, as it is now, it seems a bit unprofessional, underwhelming on quality despite a nice recipe. the bitterness kicks up a bit later on and as it warms up, still very much an ipa here. medium bodied and very well carbonated, a bit of oily hop linger, a bread crusts note, and that twang from the yeast. close to successful here, but in need of a little fine tuning to really clean it up...