New Beer Weekend #35

Evening all! Was trying to sneak this one in here before midnight central time, but that doesn't look like its going to happen. Oh well.

So this is a side by side of two new beers to me - 3 Floyds - Brian Boru and Phase Three - The Knot. Both are Irish red ales with Brian Boru checking in at 6.5% and The Knot checking in at 5%. Phase Three is a smaller, regional IL brewery.



The Knot pours a dark chestnut color. Excellent clarity. A thick, frothy tan head forms on the beer, then slowly dissipates leaving just a thin mound of bubbly foam on top of the beer. Splotchy lacing coats the glass as the head recedes and as the beer is consumed. The aroma is very malty - rustic malt, grain, a touch of nuttiness and a very light woody, earthiness comes through on the nose.

Taste follows the nose with lots of malty notes up front - bread mixed with more rustic malty notes, some lighter grainy notes and a slight nuttiness provide the initial impression. There is a moderate malty caramel sweetness to the beer that has an almost candied honey note to it. There is a subtle warming spiciness to the beer as you drink it that isn't initially noticeable, but in the cumulative does register. Some light grassy hops come through on the back end providing a different dimension to the flavor, but not a lot of bitterness. Feel is light to medium bodied, drinkable, crisp and smooth. Nice moderate carbonation with a drier finish.

Brian Boru pours a much redder, auburn color. Its pretty cloudy. A thick off-white frothy head forms on the beer before steadily but slowly dissipating until just a thin layer of foam remains on the beer. Sticky layers of lacing coat the glass as the head recedes and as the beer is consumed. The aroma on this is immediately a tell tale sign that its a 3 Floyds beer - forget malts, this is a hop driven beer that punches you in the face with a blast of old school west coast hops - pine, pine-wood, grapefruit, and caramel malt notes waft across the nose.

The flavor is more of the same. Hops dominate the flavor profile with notes of pine, grapefruit, wood, and sap with a caramel malt backbone providing a canvass for the hops. Someone asked the other day where all the red IPAs have gone? well here is one ... because this is not even remotely an Irish red ale. Feel is light to medium bodied. Oily and slick with moderate carbonation. A slight alcohol warming sensation is noted. Moderate bitterness on the finish.

So, in terms of these beers and the style, the Phase Three The Knot beer was actually a reasonably good representation of the style. It hit all the markers of what Im expecting from an Irish red ale and is probably one of the better ones Ive had out of the admittedly sparse options out there.

The 3 Floyds Brian Boru was an embarrassingly bad Irish red ale, mainly because it made no effort to actually conform to the style guidelines. Rather its just simply a red IPA that they slapped Irish red ale on and released at St Patrick's Day. In fact, its an absolute travesty that this beer is the #1 rated Irish red ale on Beer Advocate. All of that being said, if we take this as a red IPA or whatever you want to call it - Hoppy American Amber? this is absolutely delicious. Its got that old school piney bitterness on a nice caramel backbone and just hits all the right notes. So do with that what you will.