Sunday Night Suds - New Belgium Red Hoptober Ale

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at New Belgium's Red Hoptober Ale.

 

The Red Hoptober Ale is one of New Belgium's newest offerings and the seasonal limited edition in this fall's Folly Pack. The experts at beer advocate classifies the Red Hoptober as an American Amber or Red Ale which is classified as:

 

[A] catch all for any beer less than a Dark Ale in color, ranging from amber (duh) to deep red hues. This style of beer tends to focus on the malts, but hop character can range from low to high. Expect a balanced beer, with toasted malt characters and a light fruitiness in most examples. The range can run from a basic ale, to American brewers who brew faux-Oktoberfest style beers that are actually ales instead of lagers.

 

The New Belgium website indicates that the beer is made with five different kinds of hops including Centennial and Cascade varieties which I am familiar with and Nugget, Target and El Dorado hops, which I have never heard of. The website states that the El Dorado hops add a "distinct piney flavor" but I did not detect any pine-like influence. Instead, I was struck my malts which harmonized with the citrusy Centennial and Cascade hops and make this beer a brew that can be sipped or consumed with larger gulps.

 

I would recommend this beer with spicy poultry or fish dishes. If you have tried this with a meal that worked for you, please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts.

 

New Belgium Red Hoptober Ale is under the Kosher Supervision of the Scroll-K of Colorado. Although the beer does not bear the kosher symbol on the label, it can be found on the bottom of the Folly Pack box. Please note that not every brew produced by New Belgium is under kosher supervision. For a list of the New Belgium brews currently under supervision, please click on the link on the left side of my home page for my latest Kosher Beer List.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about New Belgium Red Hoptober Ale, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/83434. As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

Finally, if you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com/ to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!