red lager

Darktober 26: Coney Island Freaktoberfest

~ lobablanca

Brewer: Shmaltz Brewing Company
Location: Saratoga Springs, New York
Type: American Amber/Red Lager
ABV: 6.66%

I honestly don’t know why I chose this one, denizens. You know, beyond the kitsch factor, which, let’s face it, is just pouring from this beer like pigs’ blood on prom night. Grotesque label art, a diabolical ABV level, and a blood red coloring all make this one helluva freaky beer.

Of course, rather than looking like blood, this beer looks more like a glass of Kool-Aid. Maybe Hi-C. I’m not sure. I do know that it’s not an appealing beer color at all. It looks like something went horribly wrong in the brewing process. What might have made it worse was the massive pink frothy head. It’s just not a visually appealing beer. Leaves a massive amount of lacing along the inside of the glass, though. Probably the most lacing of any beer I’ve had this month. Here, I took a photo, just for you:

That’s some serious lacing.

The nose on this one reveals the heavy hoppiness that I feared, mixed with a high-volume syrupiness. Taste is quite similar. It’s not nearly as hoppy as I was expecting from the smell, but it’s hoppy enough. And sweet. Too sweet. And bitter. But not bitter enough to disguise the sweet. It’s seriously like someone knocked a jug of bargain-bin fruit punch into the vat that was brewing this beer.

For the kitsch alone, I guess it was worth trying this beer. From a serious beer drinking standpoint, though? No way. Don’t waste your money, denizens. Or if you must, just to say you’ve tried it, definitely stick with a single bottle. Unless you’ve got three other souls you’re itching to torment this Freaktober…

Darktober 16: Red Banshee

~ lobablanca

Brewer: The Fort Collins Brewery
Location: Fort Collins, Colorado
Type: American Amber/Red Lager
ABV: 5.3%

Shifting time zones from Pacific to Mountain, we journey to Colorado. I know what some of you are thinking right now, but, no, I’m not going to take a swipe at that other Mega-Beer conglomerate the way I’ve been doing with Anheuser-Busch.

At least not right now.

Today, it’s all about The Fort Collins Brewery. Actually, though, there are quite a few awesome craft breweries located in Colorado, including the ever-more-omnipresent New Belgium, Breckenridge, and (one of my personal favorites) Left Hand Brewing. In fact, if I still had that bottle-aged milk stout from Left Hand in my reserve, this review would be all about that. Damn that too-tasty-to-resist-any-longer beer.

Instead, I give you the Red Banshee. For full disclosure, I originally purchased this beer because of the name. Really, though, how could I not? It’s like it was named specifically for me (or after me, depending on whom you ask)! Sometimes, I truly am a slave to marketing.

Pouring the Red Banshee into my Green Lantern glass (because sometimes I’m also really this silly in my planning) revealed a color more similar to a rusty carmine, with a fallow head that left a rather intense lacing down the inside of the glass.

[Loba Tangent: Ah, this is one that I haven’t mentioned yet this Darktober: lacing. It’s what beer nerds call the residue that the frothy head leaves along the inside of the glass as you drink your beer. I haven’t really dwelt on this term before now because it hasn’t really been a noteworthy thing with the other beers I’ve reviewed. However, Red Banshee’s tightly packed cushion of bubbles left an amazing trail of lacing all over this glass. Thus, this tangent.]

The moment the bouquet hit me, I knew that I was probably about to make a mistake in drinking or reviewing this beer. Recusing myself would have been the better option. Why? I could smell the hops…and very little else. Heavy hops presence is like kryptonite to me, and it’s probably one of the primary things that kept me from exploring the beer scene sooner. I’m not really sure what I find so unpleasant about heavy-handed hoppiness, but it’s probably the flip side of the response that non-dark fans have to those bitter, heavy brews I cherish so much.

Red Banshee simply glows with hoppy aromas. It’s by no means the hoppiest beer I’ve ever had…in fact I’m sure that hops fans would probably consider this a very mild contender. This red lager is brewed with Willamette hops, which is a variety grown in Oregon’s Willamette Valley (and you thought we’d left Oregon). and possesses a distinctly floral profile overtop the expected botanical bitterness.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t really pick up on any other flavors beyond these floral ones, but I can say that this was surprisingly smooth in its hoppy impact. I’ve had some hoppy beers that have fairly felt like the hops were leaving behind a trail of taste bud devastation. Red Banshee is a graceful, more refined tartness that is easy to adjust to as your taste buds get acquainted to her somewhat pungent presence.

I wish I could provide a more detailed review for Red Banshee, but as a non-disciple of Hopism, I’m afraid I’m a bit out of my league. However, I do think that it’s a beer worth giving a try if you are a true believer. As for me, I’ve seen a couple other Fort Collins offerings, including a chocolate stout, a double chocolate stout, and a double chocolate coffee Imperial stout, that I most definitely would not mind trying. Maybe next time, I’ll look a little further than the beer name before making my purchase 😉