“With double the malt and triple the hops, this is the amped version of the red IPA. The use of caramel and chocolate give it the red colour. A resiny, citrus smell dominates from late hop additions. At 10% and 100IBU this IPA will have you seeing double!”
We love the red IPA so we are frothing over this. First crack of the can elicits that same hoppy aroma of the red IPA but way more booze. Pours a beautiful mahogany/Amber red with a creamy 15mm almost- tan head that sits like a cumulus cloud and doesn’t budge. Very very slowly recedes leaving a honeycombed lacing effect on the glass. Aroma of pine, resin, grapefruit, toffee, booze warmth, subtle chocolate sweetness. First sip is heaven. All of the above aromas but a booze undertone that doesn’t overpower yet warms the belly like a aged red wine. There is almost a barley wine thing going on here. We thinking dark fruits, prunes, port like etc. This is a solid beer. Full body here, like your eating it. It’s luscious on the tongue. Bitterness is amazingly subdued for 100 IBU. It just blends into the 10% Alc volume leaving a grapefruit like tartness on the back palate. This has definitely registered on the brain. Slight buzz going on. The resin, pine and toffee/caramel malts match so well and disguise the booze undertone also. We don’t get as much smoked flavour like we got from the original but it’s there in the background. So sticky on the lips this brew. The lacing down the glass backs this up. Relatively mild carbonation going on. Wow. This has to be up there with the champagne bottle series ‘1-3’ as being their best brew to date. We could easily do another but will likely pay for it. Oh well who cares, your only young once right? Exceptional drop. We hope this is not just a limited release and never re-appears. Better than the red IPA hands down. Hard to fault.