Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale can't beat The Art Of Flight

Recovering after the long wedding weekend back home, I'm synergistic my beer with the what we're watching...You love that word, don't even try to hate right now. So David works at Red Bull and is heavily involved with their biggest movie to date, the snowboarding film THE ART OF FLIGHT. The talk is that it will be known as the greatest snowboarding film possibly ever. He's flying to NYC tomorrow for the premiere. I don't snowboard and in fact strongly dislike snowboarders because I ski, but this film looks amazing. Here's the trailer here. The quality of the shots is mind blowing:

I'm also hoping to catch some air with Bear Republic's 6.8% Red Rocket Ale. I love Bear's Racer 5 IPA and I can't believe it's taken me this long to try out its ginger brother.

Who flies a helicopter like that? Crazy people I tell you

Bear is calling this a "Bastardized scottish red ale" and true to form it is more of an amber than a red. The beer is heavy and a little too sweet. There's a very rich caramel and toffee flavor that hits your hard and mixes it up with the hops. The brew contains a similar hop profile as Racer 5 but not as intense. I'm enjoying but it's really all up in my grill, like powder blowing up in the face of these insane snowboarders. This is is not for everyone (David didn't like), but for me I enjoyed. However, for a day drinking hoppy red ale, I'd consider a Drake's Denogganizer first. TRANSFORMERS rating

Napa Smith Lost Dog Red Ale ends up in the pound

Having to drive straight to LAX from work to catch a flight to meet my family in Napa Valley for the weekend, but the short window won't stop me from having my beer of the day though!The Parking Spot has crappy scenery though.

In honor of my destination, I'm having a local Napa brew from Napa Smith. There's a saying in Napa; "it takes a lot of good beer to make good wine." During harvest, the pickers work crazy hours and can only maintain their sanity by drinking the one thing that they're not picking - beer.

This is the third brew from Napa Smith I've tried and while the first one surprised me in the best of ways - napa-valley-wedding-day-1-napa-smith.html - this Lost Dog Red Ale doesn't warrant further sipping past what's left in my to-go cup. It tastes like they used an English yeast, but there's no backbone to the brew. The caramel and sweetness isn't there and it's rather lackluster to be honest. I'm looking forward to drinking more Napa wine and less Napa Smith this weekend. THE ISLAND rating.

Drake's Brewing Expedition Red Ale compliments a feast fit for a Rachel

Aaron B is throwing a festivus for the rest of us to say goodbye to Sarah P's, sister, Rachel, who has spent the last week here. To honor her send off, I pulled an 'expedition' ale out of the fridge. I'm incredibly excited to try this, as Drake's is one of my favorite breweries. I'm hoping this red ale, like Rachel, will be the younger sister of the hoppier and stronger Denoggonizer, which is one of my favorite 'pleasure beers.' David and I have to always ask the other when buying beers, if it's a day beer - for the blog - or a pleasure beer, which is something we've already drunk and won't count for that day. At 315+ beers, we rarely drink pleasure beers because we're already swimming in ale.

Between Aaron and David, I'm surrounded by excellent cooks and I'm eagerly looking forward to dinner. What awaits us is shrimp seviche in sliced cucumbers, scallop salad and flank stank with a balsamic vinaigrette reduction. Everything is delicious, and I had thirds of the flank steak. Yes please thank you much fat kids rule.

The Expedition Red Ale clocks in at 60 IBU's and 7% alcohol, compared to the Denoggonizer's 90 IBU and 9.75% but the Red holds it's own. It's not as intense as the Denog, but this is a good thing. The caramel flavor is medium rich and the sweetness doesn't last long, quickly replaced by a roasted flavor that isn't too bitter. The problem with red ales is they tend to be overtly sweet because in order to create that caramel flavoring, you have to use a high percentage of caramel malt. Drake's fixed this by adding a small amount of roasted malt to their grain bill. Some people just do what they do well, and Drake's has another winner. I plan on adding this to my small list of 'pleasure' beers. THE ROCK rating.

David finishes off the main meal with broiled sea bass. For dessert, Jessica grilled peaches and chopped walnuts while David delivered homemade whipped cream, whipped with awkward enthusiasm by David himself...That boy certainly loves a brisk churning. 

YUM

Brass Monkey Red Ale is one funky monkey day drinking session beer

Well staying up to dawn last night scrubbed any brunch plans, but it's okay, because we're gonna go straight into day drinking at the Brass Monkey in the Meatpacking district. Warren's friends were had already been partying for hours, so our group settled into a back booth and Warren regaled us with college stories as the Belmont Stakes unspooled in the background. In both instances, you gotta love Southern kids. Coming from Pepperdine, Dan and I had a muted fraternity pledging and experience, which made Warren's stories about pledges kidnapping active members and tying them to a light post at their rivalry's school along sorority row, that much more enthralling.

Brass Monkey to my great surprise has their own house beer, a red ale. I'd guess from it's smoothness and subtle caramel notes, it's an Irish-style red ale opposed to an American, but I could be wrong. Regardless, it's easy to drink but a rather simple, tasty beer. Perfect day session beer. TRANSFORMERS rating

After bidding goodbye to our friend Nichole who had to go work at Pop Burger, we set our sites on one of my favorite restaurants in NYC, Fatty Crab (menu).

Last last trip we had it to-go and the food was cold but excellent. Tonight the food was hot, spicy and fantastic. It's Malaysian food, a style of food my naive pebble of a brain didn't think could exist. Lots of spices and spicy sauces. Like a bastard child, I'm the only one in my family who can't handle spicy food and I was this close to spontaneously combusting, but I was still loving it.

Thankfully, we had at our disposal Recession Specials; a tall boy of PBR, a shot of Mr. Daniels, and a shot of spicy pickle juice, which killed the bourbon bite. Of course, the pickle juice further inflamed my scorched tongue, which I had to dunk with PBR. A viscous cycle.

Hopefully you can tell, but the bread/buns the sliders arrive in are amazing. That sauce pictures is sweet like eel sauce but with a different consistency and not as strong. Pretty sublime stuff.

Afterward, a nap and then hitting the Big Apple with my taller, blonder and bluer-eyed little bro, Warren D. Love'n life.

Ninkasi reNew Irish Red Ale welcomes my new King Moonracer's Revenge Coasters

Ninkasi makes a different beer every year, and this is 2011's style. It's a 5.2% Irish red ale. The ReNew has a thin malt with slight caramel and hop bitterness. It's fun but not thirst quenching by any means. ARMAGEDDON rating. 

The highlight of my day was receiving these coasters from my friend Jamie R. I made a label for my first homebrew, the Christmas Ale King Moonracer's Revenge and she had someone make the label into a coaster. They're sturdy coasters and look great! I freaking love them. I've collected a ton of coasters this year and this is by far the best looking, probably because I spent way more time on the label than people spend on a coaster, but still; it's awesome. Thanks Jamie!

Frog's Red Ale on a productive Saturday

So I like to construct things, specifically furniture and the occasional golden calf, and I've made a 5 shelf bookcase, DVD rack, and wine cork table for the hammock. My latest project began in December when David and I became tired of the bazillion spices in the kitchen - rows and rows of them. So I imagined a 'floating' or suspended spice rack and drew one up. I built the posts, glued the shelves, and figured out how to best support the top shelf. Easy peasy. Then I let all the elements sit around for two months, which made an even bigger mess than having all the spices laid out. David is patient but not that patient, and there were times I'm certain he wanted to hurl the thing out the window, and I wouldn't blame home. My construction was stymied because I couldn't tie a mountain climbing knot with the fishing line. I still don't know how I made it to be an Eagle Scout. Anywho, finally I said screw it; it's time to use square knots, the short bus of knots.

So I woke up this morning and went to work tying different lengths over and over until each shelf wasn't crooked and wallah, it hasn't fallen over yet. So I cleaned the apartment, grabbed a Mexican feast and went to the beach solo for some rays and napping. Before I return back, I went to the home brew store for ingredients and then back to the apartment to write. Boom shaka laka! Walker wins today. This is how I should always spend a Saturday.

In preparation for the beer I'm brewing tomorrow, I'm drinking a red ale from from Blue Frog Grog & Grill, which is apparently located in Fairfield, California. I chose it specifically because of the style and it's the exact alcohol percent that my beer will be, 6.7%. The flavor profile is much different than I'm aiming for and it's considerably darker with rich caramels and hints of chocolate. This is red ale is Christian Bale's Batman, darker and over the top. Plus Bale has a red ginger beard. ARMAGEDDON rating.

Taps Irish Red after sushi is a an odd choice but...

Ihora sushi in Studio City for dinner and now I'm at Laurel Tavern drinking up a local brewpub turned recent distributor Taps on...tap (I mean, it was too easy, how could I not?). So while Irish Red Ale is an odd choice after eating dynamite scallops, I'm eager to drink any and all red ale because this upcoming weekend, I want to create my own red ale recipe and then brew it. 

Taps Irish Red Ale has a very nutty smell with hints of chocolate. The taste is malrty with nut and a lighter floral note. This isn't what I'm looking to brew but it's a decent Irish red with a big malt flavor. I'm hoping to brew something on the hoppier side. THE ISLAND rating. 

Drake's Jolly Roger Imperial Red Ale is my kind of pirate poison

Needing something strong to power me through my room cleaning (been at least 6 months), we poured Drake's Jolly Roger. Rumor has it, that Drake's brews a different style of beer every year named "Jolly Roger" and this is their 21st year. If the lore is true, color me impressed. Making a different quality beer every year takes a real mad scientist. I don't know how the other 20 turned out, but this Imperial Red Ale is a tasty.

I wonder who's that handsome bastard?

Imperial = strong (8%), but here it doesn't affect the red ale taste, just makes you warm and fuzzy. This brew is well rounded with earthy, chocolate tones rounding out the flavor profile. This is unique and nicely crafted; welcome to THE ROCK rating.

Bruery Loakal Red Growlers at Me

Being roommates with someone who likes to cook works out well for me sometimes and tonight was one of those nights - Blackened Salmon and Parmesan Asparagus. Real, Grade A trash. Could it get any better? Um yes, Doyyy. We have to Finnish the delicious Growler of Bruery Lokal Red!

Like Gingers, red ales are hereditary and are fairly rare. Among the red ambers, the Loakal Red stands head above the rest. It's is a belgian style red ale, so it's full bodied and sweet with a tasteful caramel malt. Out of my favorite regular Bruery beers, this is a close 2nd only behind Mischief, and that's saying something. BAD BOYS rating.

Downing Karl Strauss Red Trolley Ale before Mumford & Sons

I'm flying in and out of the apartment to make the Mumford & Sons concert, which will undoubtedly be AMAZING. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for this red ale.

David enjoyed his Ginger with Snails. It was that kind of night

Choo chooo. I like the label but not the beer. A standard red ale but it's bland. Not a very imaginative flavor. If I was using the PH Scale to gauge Tastiness, this beer's PH 0. THE ISLAND rating.