Robin Shepard
It’s fairly common for breweries with barrel programs to keep their wooden barrels of aging beer in plain sight. Despite taking up space and adding to a crowded dining area or taproom, they advertise what might be coming up next, even raising expectations for a future release. For regulars at Next Door Brewing on Atwood Avenue, the wondering is now over. All summer long, a couple of large oak barrels occupied a prominent place in the main bar. Now the content, a robust Imperial IPA called Red Beard, is available in a special bomber bottle release.
What is it? Red Beard from Next Door Brewing Company.
Style: The Imperial IPA (IIPA or double IPA) is deep golden to reddish-amber in color and medium- to full-bodied. It’s a style with strong hop character matched with a rich background of maltiness that adds a spicy, warm complexity. IIPAs often range from 7.5 to 10.5 percent ABV.
Background: This beer is a showcase for Barbe Rouge hops — “red beard” in French. “They’re a new hop with a cool name,” says Next Door’s Dave Hansen. He was attracted to them in part by the name, associating it with pirates: “I knew I had to do something with them.”
The variety originates in France. It offers delicate notes of floral fruity sweetness with hints of red and black currants, strawberry and raspberry. Hansen also beefs up the hop bill with Mosaic and El Dorado, giving the beer the more assertive overall hop character that one looks for in an Imperial IPA. The core recipe for Red Beard is based on Hansen’s fall football seasonal called Go Big Red.
In barrel-aging Red Beard, Hansen obtained American white oak barrels that had been used to make a Cabernet wine by Cupcake Vineyards of Livermore, California. He intentionally sought out a red wine barrel. “I was planning this beer with soft fruity and citrus hoppiness that I felt would go well with a slightly more flavorful red wine. My goal was to create a balance among those flavors,” he says. The beer aged in the barrels for nearly four months before being bottled.
Red Beard finishes at 8.4 percent ABV and 69 IBUs. It’s sold in the brewpub in 22-ounce bottles for $9. Hansen isn’t making any promises about making this beer again. As with most limited releases, it all depends on how fast it sells and how much interest there is for more. However, he does say that he’s holding back some for the 2020 Isthmus Beer and Cheese Festival.
Tasting notes:
- Aroma: A pine hoppiness is most evident, especially up front. There are more subtle hints of floral berry, and red wine.
- Appearance: Clear, deep amber color with a reddish hue. The head is light tan and rocky or marbled.
- Texture: Medium-bodied and bubbly. Comes off crisp and sharp because of the pine and spiciness of the hops.
- Taste: The pine and citrus notes arrive early, followed by faint hints of floral cherry and strawberry. That fruitiness plays off the red wine and barrel character.
- Finish/Aftertaste: A mild, yet firm, lingering spiciness with a touch of the sweet barrel character.
Glassware: The Belgian tulip glass calls attention to the beer’s reddish-amber color, while the gentle outward flare of the lip allows the berry character of the Barbe Rouge hops to waver under the nose.
Pairs well with: the Black and Blue Burger from the Next-Door menu, with its sharp musty blue cheese and spicy cheese bread bun, will match the assertive citrus and pine hoppiness of Red Beard.
The Verdict: Red Beard’s range of hops make this a beer that IIPA fans will want to try. The Mosaic lend lots of pine and citrus, which combine for up-front spiciness. The Barbe Rouge and El Dorado contribute fruitiness with softer hints of cherry and strawberry. Those fruity qualities meld with the hints of Cabernet and the woodiness of the barrel. As the beer slowly warms, more of that red wine and oaky flavor will emerge. This is a very tasty beer with layers of hop flavor and woodiness from months in the wine barrel.
