Eating isn't Cheating: Red Hop Ale

Showing posts with label Red Hop Ale. Show all posts

Collaboration Brew with Blue Suede Brews: Introducing Red Eye Rye

Neil, Eating isn't Cheating Monday, November 07, 2011

So Sunday was the day that has been postponed, rearranged, cancelled, and finally, well, finalised more times than I can even remember – my brew day with Dean from Mr Foleys in Leeds. Or should I say, Blue Suede Brews.

We decided on the beer months and months ago, a well hopped Red Rye Ale not dissimilar to something like Founders Reds Rye P.A. around the same time in June I wrote this actually: Red Hop Ales the New Black IPA?

The idea behind going for the Rye was to give an added depth of flavour and a biscuity, slightly spicy malt flavour to balance out those big hops.

The recipe was kicked back and forth between me and Dean - essentially an amalgamation of a few different recommendations from brewing buddies, homebrew websites, and some last minute tweaking and tinkering from Dean who ultimately decided on the ratios we used. Oh and we threw in some Galaxy hops at the 11^th hour because they smelt so damn good. But that’s what homebrewings all about isn’t it.

The ingredients were as follows:

Malts: Maris otter, Crystal, Cara Red, Rye

Bittering Hops: Riwaka

Aroma Hops: Amarillo and Galaxy

Dry Hopping Hops: Amarillo

Yeast: US 05

It came out a really nice deep, medium dark red/amber, but that could all change with fermentation, and secondary fermentation in the bottle. What looks dark now may well drop out to be a much more crystal red, only time will tell.

Once I know, you’ll know.

p.s. Here's a sneak peak of the spiral label artwork I designed for the beer, tested on an empty bottle, it's called Red Eye Rye....

Williams Brothers

Red Hop Ales - The New Black (IPA)?

Neil, Eating isn't Cheating Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Well hopped, slightly US inspired red ales seem to be becoming more and more popular with UK breweries.

Examples are already out there; I wrote recently about Rapture from Magic Rock, and of course BrewDog's 5am Saint has always been a great beer (although technically it's an 'iconoclastic amber ale' but lets not split hairs...) even Hardknott's Infra Red could probably be cited as a current example, plus there's Rouge Hop from the ever reliable Summer Wine Brewery. Red ales as a style just have a fantastic depth of malt flavour that balances out heavy hopping really well, and you end up with a really tasty beer.

Perhaps Red is the new Black (IPA)? Maybe not, but I could definately see Red Hop Ales, or Hoppy Red Rye Ales, becoming something more and more breweries have a go at, because they are just so damn tasty.

In fact, it's quickly becoming a style that I actively seek out, to the point where if I had the choice between an IPA or a hoppy Red Ale from the same decent brewery I'd most likely choose the latter. Which, for a hop-head like me, is a dynamic shift.

A beer which I tried recently just about fits itself into this category, with a well-judged level of hopping riding on top of a complex red malt body, I'm talking about Williams Bros Cock o' the Walk Scottish Red Ale.

Cock o' the walk pours a bright clear red colour, pure scarlet infact, which you can't really see from my picture. Low carbonation with a small head that receeded to a thin ring, that said the carbonation in the body is perfectly fine. Light, dry, citrus hops and a little wheat biscuit in the aroma, a hint of sweet berry fruit syrup as well.

The flavour is faint dark berry fruit, plenty of sweet malt, with a nice complexity of different malt flavours including a dry biscuit note. Then comes a nice dryness in the finish from the citrussy hops.

It's a really nice, well balanced beer with a hugely complex and satisfying array of malt flavours, and just enough hops to keep everything in check. The only thing I would say is it might actually benefit from being served on cask to give it a bit of extra mouthfeel, which was possibly the only thing lacking from the bottle version.

Also, it's definately a British style red ale rather than a super hopped US inspired version, but it still has enough juicy hop character to keep it firmly in the modern style 'red ale' category.

Modern ERA as opposed to ARA perhaps?

You can buy Williams Brothers Beers online via their online shop, or at MyBreweryTap.

Thanks to Williams Brothers for sending this through for review.

The Grove

Tasted and tested: The Magic Rock beers

Neil, Eating isn't Cheating Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Last night was the official launch of Magic Rock Brewing at The Grove in Huddersfield, and what a night it was.

Most breweries do a 'soft launch'; with their new beers slowly making it into different pubs and beer bars as they begin to spread the word, and build up a loyal following over a few months or even years. Magic Rock on the other hand took a leaf out of the BrewDog book of Marketing, and decided to kickoff the brewery with a wollop rather than a whisper, inviting anyone and everyone to come and try their brand new beers fresh from their fledging brewery. The potential pitfall of this strategy of course is that once you've got everybody's attention you run the risk of the beers not living up to the expectation, in other words, not fulfilling your own hype.

However I'm very pleased to announce that this wasn't the case in any way, shape or form when it comes to Magic Rock. These beers deliver.

The place was absolutely packed and there was a genuine buzz in the air, with a heady mix of beer geeks, bloggers, brewers, beery Biebers (see @GroveBri's twitter for clues) and slightly bewildered old regulars, all mixing together happily and discussing, assessing and most importantly enjoying the fantastic range of beers from Magic Rock.

I did what everybody did for my first pint and went for the session strength "Curious" Pale Ale 3.9% - which was so good the first cask went in 30 minutes and at one point there was a 12 pint queue.

"Curious" has that quenching, juicy-yet-bitter citrus hop flavour that great session strength pales like Hawkshead's Windermere Pale or Ilkley Mary Jane achieve, along with just a hint of sweetness and a finish which is bitter yet balanced, making it very drinkable. I spoke to Rich from Magic Rock briefly at the event and remember saying to him that I could see this beer selling like crazy. With a mix of drinkability, flavour and relatively low ABV it's exactly what most cask drinkers are looking for in a beer.

Next up was the beer I'd been looking forward to most, the "Rapture" Red Hop Ale 4.6%. The taste definately lived up to my hopes and this was by far my favourite beer of the night, and the beer I chose to buy a second pint of when I only had time for one more before my train back to Leeds. Which in itself says a lot.

"Rapture" hits you with a big juicy smack of fruity orange peel hops, which combine with a stewed fruit, raisin and mixed berry malt body to create a hugely satisfying beer. It's also got a very slight chocolate note - that fruity, juicy flavour you sometimes get with really high quality, 70+ cocoa dark chocolate. For me the berry pushes through stronger than the chocolate though, and combined with the strong hop profile makes Rapture remind me a little of BrewDog's 5am Saint, which I hope the Magic Rock guys will take as the compliment it's intended.

My third beer of the evening was the "High Wire" West Coast Pale Ale 5.5%. If "Curious" is the beer that regular cask drinkers will lap up then "High Wire" is definately the beer bar staple, where the regulars won't touch anything under 5% ABV this is going to be a winner.

"High Wire" was the one beer that wasn't quite what I expected. Slightly lighter and more balanced than I thought, making it hugely drinkable. I think I was expecting a sort of mini AIPA, but actually this is a true West Coast Pale, with mango and a touch of passionfruit hop flavour sitting atop a lightly bitter body and just a hint of crisp malt, it finishes bitter and clean, and is another great beer.

Last, but by no means least, was a half of the "Cannonball" IPA 7.4%. Unlike the other three beers this one was, in my opinion quite rightly, being served on key keg with an added spritz of carbonation and an ever so sligthly cooler serving temp. It was initially pouring a bit frothy, which someone mentioned to me could be down to the fact that the key keg hadn't been racked upside down. I've got no idea if this is correct or not, so don't shoot the messenger if it's way off the mark.

By the time I bought my half the beer was pouring perfectly, obviously just some first night jitters, and my doubts were pushed aside after the first sniff. Wow that's a good smelling beer! It's got a sweetly floral, fruity aroma from the dry hopping, with tropical mango, orange pith, passionfruit (Nelson Sauvin?), lime citrus and a little pine resin all coming through, even before you take a sip. The taste is a continuation of the smell, but there's also a slightly unexpected amount of sweetness that acts well to balance out the onslaught of bitterness that your palate is bracing itself for. It's a very rich beer, with a definate slickness to the mouthfeel similar to something like Sierra Nevada's Torpedo IPA, which again highlights the amount US Craft beer has to play in the flavour of Magic Rock's brews.

So there you have it, four great beers from a brand spanking new brewery, how often can you say that?

I'll hopefully be getting my hands on some of Magic Rock's bottled beers soon too and will let you know what they are like compared to their cask and keg cousins, so keep your eyes peeled.

On a final point, we all commented on how much we liked the branding, particularly the frankly beautiful pumpclips, and it's reassuring to find out for myself that the beers match up to the hype. No amount of eye catching branding or social media marketing (both of which are good things for a brewery to do) will cover up bad beer, and I couldn't be happier to say that this is one brewery that have the full package, and certainly can't be accused of style over substance. The fact is, their just lucky enough to have both.

Visit Magic Rock's website here www.magicrockbrewing.com for the latest information on where to buy their beers, although an obvious place to start is of course www.mybrewerytap.com