Newport Storm - Luke (Cyclone Series)
Newport Craft Brewing & Distilling Co.

Treated as an American Strong ale, the bottle was poured into a snifter. The appearance was a semi-dark red color with a fingers worth of white foamy head that fell off at a decent pace. Some sliding foamy lace. The aroma had some caramel/toffee malts, toast, bubblegum, butterscotch and some faint crisp citrusy hops. The flavor took all of that to blend mostly sweet and had a touch of bitterness at the end. Aftertaste was quaint, somewhat malty with a little bit of basement. Finish was quick, with the basement and malts. The palate was about medium bodied with more of a sipping quality about it. Carbonation felt fine. ABV felt as projected. Overall, not sure where Im getting the bubblegum aroma and the basement flavor in this but honestly, just super weird all around for the style. Not sure if I would go at this again.

 

This bottle is a good two years old but it pours a nice cloudy, rusty
brown color with a modest dappling of off-white head with reasonable ridges of
lacing throughout. The nose gets inundated with pungent butterscotch malt with a
hint of whiskey peat and some subtle pine hop. It smells pretty tasty to me
although it does suggest a potential sweet fest. The flavor is thankfully not so
over the top sweet as I feared and does deliver a load of deep charcoal malt and
earthy grass hops with a touch of spruce-pine. This doesn't carry quite as
obvious a butterscotch influence as was noted in the aroma. This is definitely more
of a dank malt bomb with a likeable hop complement. I get some molasses and
woodsy peat. This "cellared" brew presents a fairly medium body with adequate
but modest carbonation and midland, tingly feel. The hop quotient sort of
improves as you get through it. Really not a bad brew in my book, but not what
some folks may approve of when choosing a red ale. It could easily slip into an
imperial red ale, or even some form of a scotch ale category. It may be that this bottle
benefited from the lengthy aging process, but I'm liking this dank, fairly hoppy
malt bomb. Too bad it's no longer available.

 

Thanks to the Sly Bros for bringing this back from vacation. The label lists this as an "India Red Ale". Whatever that is. Poured into 10oz glass. Poured a clean, clear reddish-amber color with a tall, fluffy light tan head that had good retention and lacing.

The aroma was a nice blend of a solid malty sweet base, with a nice dosing of hops in the background. On the tongue the malt had a much stronger presence than the hops, but both were certainly still noticeable.

The body was on the thin side, but still had a slightly sticky finish. Drinkability was decent, if this were local to me I'd have a couple on a semi regular basis. Overall, a decent little beer, worth trying.

Appearance: Pours a clear amber color with a sturdy head that leaves plenty of lacing

Smell: Whoa, what a load of butterscotch diacetyl; a stiff amount of piney hops are also present but they are overwhelmed by the malt

Taste: A wallop of butterscotch up front; by-mid-palate, the hops emerge but the combination is a mess and the finish is no better

Mouthfeel: Medium body with moderate carbonation

Drinkability: Just when I thought that Newport Storm was rising in my opinion they produce this beer to bring them back to where I started; a real disappointment from a brewery that seems to be plagued by inconsistency

Thanks, CharlesDarwin, for the opportunity

Poured into a Sam Adams glass
A: Once poured, color is a deep amber and the head is a solid two fingers of tan creamy goodness.

S: Sweet Butterscotch with subtle floral hops.

T: Smooth balance of sweet roasted malts with great backbone of a bitter crisp finish. Hoppy aftertaste. As warms more sweet malts shine through, less hops.

M: Creamy and smooth, keeps you smacking your lips after each sip. Hides the 8.6% very well.

Would defiantly buy again. A different beer that was pleasantly surprising for a hop head!!

12oz bottle purchased as a single at Julio's, Westboro, MA.

Poured into an imperial pint glass, formed a 3/4" tan head over the slightly cloudy reddish amber brew. Head recedes slowly, with lasting sticky lace. Aroma was sweet butterscotch. Taste is malty to start, fruity tart in the middle, then moderately bitter to close. Mouthfeel is smooth, and drinkability is okay. The fruitiness kind of knocked it down a peg or two for me.

Thanks to bman1113VR for sharing this bottle.

Pours a reddish amber color with a white head. The aroma is interesting, with the first thing that comes to mind being caramel popcorn. The flavor is caramel with some light hopping. Medium mouthfeel and low carbonation.

Poured into Sam Adams glass

dark red in color, plenty of carbonation, creamy head, odor is full of hops, drinks very balanced, with a good malty flavor to balance
out the hops

one of the better storms in my opinion, i was worried when I first smelled all the hops that it would lean too heavily that direction but was pleasantly surprised

Thanks to Wasatch for this!
Freshness label present, but not notched:

Pours hazed reddish copper with a thin head that barely covers. Some spotted lacing sticks.

The smell is of caramel (in a "red" way), a hint of citrus, bready, with some sour/tart fruitiness.

The taste is of sweet caramel, bready notes, sour and bitter fruits, including grapefruit. A touch of alcohol, that grows as it progresses, weaves in and out. It has an herbal/aspirin-ish finish.

Mild-to-medium carbonation. Medium-to-full body Malty smoothness takes edge off of growing intensity of booze and bitterness.

Certainly not for the faint of heart. Bitterness is bold, with big hops, but also big on malts...almost clashes but doesn't... Alcohol shows more as it progresses... An interesting sipper.

Obtained in trade from ShogoKawada (thanks!). Served in my Newport Storm pint glass.

Clear, UO crimson body and an immense, rocky, frothy cream head lead to me believe this is brewed for the University of Oklahoma ;-) The soft peak lacing, superior retention, and rich gloss of legs reminds me more of a Belgian style. Impressive.

Pungent aroma from noble hops, though it seems off in some way (skunky with a touch of DMS). No citrus, though there is a caramel malt backbone as expected, though perhaps this is actually diacetyl. A bit of a mess really.

Hops are suggestive of hemp, pink-peppercorn, and stale red-delicious apples. Caramel malt, candy corn, and sulfate-laden water round out the profile.

Surprisingly thin for the high ABV, but not heinous. Carbonation level is decent. Alcohol is sneaky but effective.

Pairs well with salty processed junk-food. There are simply too many things slightly wrong with this beer to be the fault of my individual bottle. A real travesty compared with the pinnacles of the style from the NW. Newport Storm is capable of MUCH better brews - but I would avoid this one in particular.

Thanks goes out to ybnorml for this brew.

Pours a nice amber/brown color, nice carbonation, nice one-finger creamy off-white head, with some nice sticky lacing left behind. The nose is a malt bomber, slightly hopped, with some caramel. The taste is slightly sweet, malty, some hop notes, and a good dose of caramel. Medium body, the finish is dry and slightly bitter. Drinkable, this is a nice brew, true to style.

The bottle starts to overflow slowly when first opened. Pours a neutral brown color--slight haze. Rocky head of tight foam. Leaves good lace on the glass.

Pleasant caramel malt and floral hop blend to the nose. Very nicely balanced.

Slightly more bitter than the nose would indicate. Rich body with a higher than average level of carbonation. The swallow is surprisingly creamy with dry crystal malt element (and the obligatory hop bite).

From Notes: 12/5/09

Thanks to roopy40 for this as an extra in a recent trade!

A: Very dark red, not quite brown, excellent head retention, big gobs of lacing. Head is khaki in color, very dense, nice looking beer.

S: First thing I noticed when I opened this was butter, smells like popcorn butter. After that a big caramel malt profile with a small citrus/soap hop profile that starts to show up as it warms, the butter is just too much though. Not impressed.

T: Much better than it smells, caramel malts, roasted barley and a strong hop bitterness leads to an interesting coffee flavor. Not a huge hop flavor, slightly citrus, but tastes a lot more bitter than the 68 IBUs the bottle claims. Nicely hidden alcohol. Decent but not a huge wow factor.

M: Medium body, slightly warm alcohol, nice carbonation. Nice.

D: Decent beer, but a little disappointing, did not like the strong buttery nose, and that was very off putting. Nice bitterness and nice hops. Pretty good, but kind of lacking.

Thanks Paul!

I tried this brew at the Brass City Brewfest a couple months ago and enjoyed my sample very much. But I'ver had some difficulty finding it. Anyways.

A-12oz bottle poured into a standard pint glass. Pretty good, foamy head. A little bit off-white. Good sticky lacing.

S-Some smell of malts and caramel. Very present floral hops. Damn good, unique smell.

T-A lot like the smell. I get a lot of the malts and caramel with some nice floral hops at the end, with a hint of the alcohol. For 8.6% alcohol, it is hidden well. There's some toasted qualities in here as well. Overall, a fine taste.

M-Medium body, medium carb. This beer feels sticky in the mouth.

D-As mentioned earlier, the 8.6% abv is hidden well. That might be a bad thing because this beer goes down so easy. This still might be one of the best beers I've had from Newport Storm/extreme brewing.

Pours a very dark amber, with a good 2 finger off white head which dissipates into a thin layer of foam on top, leaving a nice bit of lacing clinging to the side of the glass through out.

Very floral hoppy smell with a slight undertone of malt. I'm not a hop lover like most, but this beer smells pretty good.

Taste follows the smell, earthy floral hops up front with a hint of grapefruit, with enough sweet malt flavor to balance. The malt is almost too sweet, but not enough to ruin it cause the hops just bitchslap it back to its place. Can't even taste the alcohol.

Moderate body. The carbonation keeps the malt from weighing in too much.

I would have never guessed this for 8.6% If I did have to guess it would have been closer to 5 or 6% Definitely a very drinkable beer.

The hop flavor and carbonation beat the malt into its place and keep it from over powering the sweetness and heaviness. Spot on for what I would imagine an India style Red ale to be. A very pleasing brew, which is something coming from someone who doesn't enjoy super hopped beers very much.

A dark copper/brown beer with a medium beige head with a great sticky lacing. The aroma is steadfast malty. With hints of caramel running along side spicey hop notes. The maltiness spreads across your tongue quickly. Followed by a light peppery/spicy hop not that evolves into a wonderful piney character on the finish. ummm that was a tasty beer.

Haven't tried many of the Newport Storm Cyclone Series, but I've been told there are quite a few good ones. SO here is my first review for the series, and I'm sure more to come eventually.

A: The head grows quickly into bubbly semi thick head, then slowly fades back but doesn't seem to really gain ground on itself. It's a pretty clean molten brown color with hints of dark red and rosy colors. As the head fades it leaves little mounds missing from the head like the ground of a war zone.

N: Sweet malts with some toasty qualities leads off the nose front. A slight sweet syrup like nose also slightly tinges your nose. I also get a slight crystal malt like aroma and very very slight earthy hop. A slight red fruit and slight alcohol round off the nose.

T: Taste starts with a big malt hit. Some sweet lighter malts really hit first, then some darker reddish malts start to take over. A slight roasted malt and some crystal malts. It's got a sweet syrupy taste and some bitter earthy flavors, and perhaps a little too sweet. Some light spicy citrus and pine hops come through as well. A very light alcohol taste also drops in to say hello. A long sweet syrupy bitterness seems to start to build and build and build...

and build and build and build...

M: Pretty thick with lots of carbonation, slight spicy hops and alcohol.

F: Finishes very dry and bitter. It gets more bitter as it goes and by the finish is pretty bitter. It also dries out really crazy and rips some cells from my tongue and replaces them with syrupy bitter hop oils. It's got a crazy contrasting finish that seems much different than the initial taste. The bitterness is just different and doesn't seem to fit as well. The syrupy sweetness doesn't seem to fade either as it dries off so much. The finish actually starts to make it difficult to keep drinking. It has a nice taste to start but finishes so contrasting.

Final thoughts: It starts as a nice red ale, with nice toasty malts and some sweet syrupy malts, then some nice hops start to kick in, but as you start to say "hey those are nice hops... wait" but before you can even say wait, the hops are beating you up and blowing a hair dryer on your tongue to dry it out too much. Can you imagine what it would be like to be way... waaaay too dry? Also, the sweet syrupy taste never fades, even when it dries way off. Not bad to start, but how it finishes it would be hard to drink this again. Perhaps I'm just not a heavy red ale fan, and I know I've never really been into reds.

Just spotted this new release @ Nikki's. Can't wait! This i listed as an "India Style Red Ale". 8.6% ABV, 1.071 O.G. and 65 IBUs.

'Luke' is the latest offering in the Cyclone Series of extreme beers. All in all the beers have been very interesting, with some being local classics and others being decent efforts that just didn't pull it off.

A- Poured into pint glass from 12oz bottle. A nice honey caramel rusty color, this is a healthy looking red. The head is super dense, creamy, slightly off-white in color, and isn't going anywhere anytime soon, by the looks of it. Excellent head retention. Decent lacing.

S- Floral hops and sweet malts combine for a pleasant nose. This beer smells delicious.

T- Hops are the dominant note, with enough malt to provide a pretty hefty body for the style. Bitter, grapefruit hops dominate, a mild yeasty bready malt provides a good counterbalance to keep the bitterness in check. An imperial red? Never had one before, but my educated guess would say this is spot-on. Caramel sweetness is borderline too much, but there's enough other things going on to make it work.

M- 8.6%? No way. Seriously, I would have guessed 5.5-6%. Moderate body provides enough balance to make this more than a 1-note beer. Very quaffable, but watch out for that ABV!

D- Wow, I am impressed. The last few Cyclone Series beers I've had have been a lot cleaner and tighter than previous offerings. Derrick, Brent, et al have really stepped their game up and have produced a really tasty beer that pushes the boundaries of the traditional American Red. Pound for pound one of the most drinkable beers @ 8+% I've ever had.

Overall- if you like reds, try this. If you like tasty beers, try this. If you want something that's a refreshing change of pace, try this. I'm very impressed by this beer and am pumped to see what things Coastal Extreme will do in their new location (they are moving to a new location as of this review).