Sunday Night Suds - Saranac Heart of the Hop Red IPA

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Saranac's Heart of the Hop Red IPA.

In this year's 12 Beers a Springing mix box, Saranac has provided a masterful combination of a classic brews along with three new offerings. In addition to the standard bearer - Saranac Pale Ale (reviewed here kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/03/sunday-night-suds-saranac-pale-ale.html) and last winter's interesting Prism White Ale (reviewed here kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2014/03/sunday-night-suds-saranac-prism-white.html), Saranac has added two new brews - the Goat Rodeo and the Heart of the Hop Red IPA. This being Mothers Day, I thought it more appropriate to review the Heart of the Hop Red IPA.

[Somewhere Mrs KB is nodding along with this thought and there is a decent chance I may still get dinner one night this week].

The bottle label indicates that at "the heart of this beer is a citrusy combination of Simcoe and Citra hops, while Rye malt adds a dry spiciness, and caramel and carafa malts give it the dark amber hue."

I can't speak to the caramel and carafa malts (frankly I have never even heard of carafa malt), but the hop and rye malt combination makes for one spicy and floral brew. There is an immediate pine hit, followed by some citrus in the aftertaste. Successive sips bring in more spice and pine and grapefruit. 

As with most Saranac products, the level of carbonation is perfect and the beer does not have a strong alcohol backbone despite being 6.0% abv.

This is a dynamic beer which would stand up well to spicy asian fare. I enjoyed this with my gemara well after dinner, but since the box has three of these, I can experiment with pairings over the next few weeks.

Saranac Heart of the Hop Red IPA is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit as is every other beer produced at the Matt Brewery plant in Utica, NY. Keep in mind, Saranac has begun to brew some of its High Peaks series off site and these bottles do not have kosher certification from the Va'ad of Detroit.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about the brew, please follow this link www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/99/154699.

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).

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