Imperial Red Ales

IMO G'Knight is the main example . And yes, I would love to see people push the style more. Founder's I am looking at you bub.

 

I feel like categorization in general can be a nuisance in the beer scene. Sometimes it leads people to expect a very specific experience before they even try a beer.

"This Abrasive stuff has oats in it? That's not a real American Double / Imperial IPA. Garbage."
"This Furious stuff is too malty for an American IPA. Gross."

People actually say these stupid things sometimes^

 

completely agree, one of my favorite styles.

i love to have a troegs perpetual then move on to an imperial red.

g' knight, nugget nectar and lagunitas imperial red lead the way for me. i ahd big hoppy monster, but that was before i knew what i was doing

any other imperial reds i can get my hands on?

 

im liking Clown Shoes eagle claw fist.. what categories? only when fresh its good

 

Yeah - I do get where you're coming from. I guess I just wish people didn't put so much weight in the category that a beer lands in. Especially when - in the case of Surly - the brewers themselves might not even necessarily agree with the way their own beer was categorized on BeerAdvocate.

 

Kern rivers 6th anniv was a 9% imperial red very well done i have some for trade

 

I think there a many styles that could warrant a separate imperial category like the DIPA category. Such as Reds, whites, browns, pumpkin ales, black ales, etc. But it doesn't bother me so much that we don't have the perfect category label on here to slap on every beer. Perhaps once we start getting more granular categories, we would see people debating whether beer fits in one or the other more often than we do now.

 

Dirty Hippy! So good.

 

I concur brotha. So sad I only got 2 bottles. Sad panda.

Cheers!

 

I think any style that gets imperialized enough to deserve it's own imperial category should get the imperial category.

 

Seems like there's more and more of these coming out... which is a good thing, I think. PS - G'Knight is delicious. From what I've come across, some brewers seem to be treating this as its own style already.

 

I'd be more interested in seeing the site distinguish between Amber and Red.

 

And what exactly are the distinguishing characteristics between an amber and a red?

 

Can you distinguish for me? I've heard people lately referencing them as if there is a difference.

 

I guess I find Ambers being all about the malts; more one dimensionally sweet and bready, even at times toffee, with a less active, fuller mouthfeel. Red's I find are far hoppier and offer a slightly different malt profile.

 

That may be true for certain examples but it's not broadly true to the point that it warrants two distinct style classifications. Is Nugget Nectar, for example, "all about the malts" and " one dimensionally sweet and bready"?

 

I'm not awarding beers medals, so highly specific catagories are pretty much lost on me.

 

Having never had Nugget Nectar I can't comment.

I will say, that at least to me, there is a clear distinction between beers like Bell's Amber/New Belgiums Fat Tire and beers like Odell's Red or Marble's Red.