Topic Archives: Red Ales
Terrapin Double Red is barrel-aged collaboration heaven
It almost sounds like fiction now, but there was a time in beer when the mere mention of barrel aging would elicit a Pavlovian response. You released it, they would come. Somewhere we lost that.
I’m not sure if it was just a flooded market or style-hype shift. The days of barrel-aged perfection faded for diabetic pastry stouts and chunky lactose haze bombs. In all honesty, I thought those days were gone until I stumbled upon this one.
Terrapin Beer Company has always just done whatever they want to do, stayed true to the mountain biking, travel, solar-powered, live music hippie culture, and just be. Two decades of growth trajectory show it.
Let’s talk about this beer. It’s no secret that Terrapin entered the Miller Coors portfolio years ago, and besides extra capital, it brought new opportunities for collaboration- in this case specifically – Coors Whiskey Company.
David Coors’ interest in whiskey started in college (naturally). He recalls sitting in his father’s (Pete Coors) Suburban on the way to the Coors brewery in Golden, Colorado, and David declared “We should make whiskey!” Without even looking at David, Pete said “We are good at one thing and one thing only, and that’s making beer,” David recalls.
That conversation nagged David for nearly 20 years. In 2019, Coors Brewing Company made the business decision to venture beyond the beer aisle. The time was right to make bourbon, but the question was the approach. He didn’t want to just source juice and slap a label on it. By the time the pandemic hit, Coors had started blending and fell in love with a single malt blended with a bourbon flavor profile that not a lot of people had been releasing.
“We are good at one thing and one thing only, and that’s making beer”
“I was enamored by the flavor profile that came out of it. I was bringing all these different blends to family dinner on Sundays and finally found a blend we settled on and took it to market in 2021,” David says.
Coors Whiskey had recently been doing a barrel-aged imperial porter for AC Golden, piquing a bigger interest in making other barrel-aged beers. They reached out to their various brewery partners. Terrapin immediately jumped in. Brewmaster and co-founder Spike Buckowski and President Dustin Watts loved the whiskey blends. They started by dismissing the idea of putting an imperial stout in the barrel, thinking that’s already been done too much. Rye malt is far and away Spike’s favorite to brew with and dotes heavily on retired Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster (Imperial Rye Ale). Spike used that grain bill to guide the creation of Double Barrel Red Ale.
“The one eye-opening thing was the effect freshly dumped whiskey barrels have on the final flavor. It was so bold on flavor, and big on booze, pushing the final alcohol by volume to 12.7%. I really wanted the red ale to come out of the barrel mimicking the flavors of the 5 Trails blend,” Spike says.
“Having the beer locked and loaded by the time these barrels hit the ground was a challenge for us,” Dustin says. David Coors’ team emptied the barrels and shipped them to Georgia in less than 48 hours. We wanted to be ready to fill,” he adds.
The collaborative result is a liquid flashback to the heyday of barrel-aged beer beauties that we’ve stayed up far too late drinking. Besides conjuring warm fuzzy Big Hoppy Monster flashbacks, Double Barrel marries the best parts of blended whiskey and smooth barrel-aged beer. Terrapin has done a lot of barrel-aged beers in the past but this one stands apart from the others. This wasn’t just “brew a beer and find a barrel,” it was an intentional creation and it shows. It’s a barrel-aged art form we’ve missed.
After the beer was emptied from the barrels, they were shipped back to Coors Whiskey Company who is aging a blend in the barrels, for an ale-finished whiskey coming in late 2024.
Terrapin Double Barrel Red Ale is available in limited 16-ounce cans and draft.
Style: Imperial Red Ale (Barrel Aged. Whiskey)
Hops: Centennial, CTZ, Warrior
Malts: 2-row malt, CaraMalt, Light Crystal, Malted Rye, Amber Malt, Extra light Crystal, Malted Wheat, Flaked Corn
Availability: 16oz Cans, Draft. Limited Release.
12.7% ABV
Crux Fermentation Project’s newest seasonal: Mountain Traffic
The latest seasonal from Crux Fermentation Project, Mountain Traffic is now available.
Traffic truly sucks, but we are going to assume this hoppy red ale doesn’t. Per Crux:
After a fun day in the mountains, nothing sounds more satisfying than sharing a refreshing pint. And while that long line of brake lights heading back into town may slow your journey towards fulfillment, this hoppy and malt-forward red ale is well worth the wait – robust and bursting with rich, hop flavors and a balanced malt body this easy-drinking, apres-whatever winter refresher will have you seeing a different shade of red.
Crux Fermentation Project Mountain Traffic is available as a seasonal release in 16-ounce cans and draft.
Style: Red Ale
Availability: 16oz Cans, Draft. Seasonal Release.
Debut: October 2019
7.8% ABV, 50 IBUs
Image: Crux Fermentation Project
SweetWater Wookie Down emerges from the Dank Tank this week
SweetWater Wookie Down joins the brewery’s Dank Tank Series starting this week.
Recently the Atlanta-based brewery re-brewed Pulled Porter from the Dank series. This was the first time the brewery canned a Dank Tank release. Now apart of the same series is SweetWater Wookie Down, an imperial red ale.
RELATED: SweetWater Dank Tank Series
This forthcoming release is brewed in celebration of the brewery’s annual 420 Fest, held every April in downtown Atlanta. You might recall 420 Fest Double IPA from 2015.
This edition is an imperial red ale, big on tropical citrus flavors and a sweet malt body.
Dressed to get pressed at the fest, El Dank took one whiff of his stash of Simcoe, Mosaic and Waimea hops and dove straight in. Feeling no pain with lots to gain, El D saddled up next to a big bodied mahogany/red beauty of an ale looking to mingle a blast of his stash of tropical citrus aromas with her big bodacious sweet maltified booty. Overindulging as always, Danko peaked at 7.6% ABV, causing him to spin with the spinners ’til he spun out and was left face up in the field. Eyes open but case closed.
The 2017 fest lineup includes Widespread Panic, Ween, and Slightly Stoopid.
SweetWater Wookie Down is a draft and 16 ounce can release, starting in mid-March.
Style: Imperial Red Ale
Availability: 16oz cans, Draft.
Debut: Mid-March, 2017
7.6% ABV, 82 IBUs
AleSmith My Bloody Valentine: pours red, 6.66% ABV
AleSmith My Bloody Valentine, the bloody red distant cousin of the brewery’s Halloween beer Evil Dead Red, is back in action.
Valentine’s Day either brings joy to some, or misery to others. Perhaps that speaks to the versatility of this beer. The red ale is appropriate colored for the Hallmark holiday, with an appropriate/inappropriate 6.66% alcohol by volume.
It has intense notes of caramel, toast and bittersweet chocolate, balancing an intense bouquet of floral hop aromas. The finish leaves a pleasant, full-bodied sweetness on the palate that leaves you pining for more!
AleSmith My Bloody Valentine is available in 22 ounce bottles and draft in January, and February.
Style: Red Ale
Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft
Distribution: AZ, CA, CO, CT, IL, MI, NV, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, RI, TX, VA, WA, Wi
Latest Return: January, 2017
6.66% ABV
Left Hand Rye on the Prize coming in July
Left Hand Rye on the Prize is on the horizon in Longmont, Colorado. According to local distributors, the beer is slated to arrive across the brewery’s entire distribution footprint in July.
As the name suggests, the imperial red ale features a hefty helping of rye malt.
Left Hand Rye on the Prize will be a draft and 22 ounce bottle offering.
Style: Imperial Red Ale / Rye Beer
Availability: 22oz Bottles, Draft
Release: July, 2016
8.5% ABV
Adirondack Red
Adirondack Red
Clown Shoes Evil Crawfish started as a mis-ordered beer
Clown Shoes Evil Crawfish hit shelves in late November, 2015. No, it doesn’t have actually crawfish in it.
The beer started with someone asking for Eagle Claw Fist (the brewery’s imperial amber) but ordered it wrong – as Evil Crawfish. The joke has become it’s own beer, with Eagle Claw Fist in mind.
Once upon a time a man walked into a bar where a friend of our’s was tending the taps. He tried to order an Eagle Claw Fist, but got it wrong and asked for an Evil Crawfish. When we heard the story, after much laughter, we knew one day we’d make the beer. Finally, here it is, built off of ECF, but cleaner, meaner, less bitter, and dry hopped with Citra, El Dorado, and Mosaic.
9% ABV.
Clown Shoes Evil Crawfish is available in 22 ounce bottles.
Style: Imperial Red Ale
Hops: Citra, El Dorado, Mosaic
Availability: 22oz Bottles
Release: Late November, 2015
9% ABV
