Thought you'd heard the last of me, eh?
Hello and welcome back to what's on tap and served cold,
where brews get imbibed. I know some of
you are excited for the new season of Game of Thrones in April, so excited! So
scared! Not me though, I'm not really a fan, and I have books to read. But I know for you Westerosi, three more
months is a long time to wait. So, ease
your anticipation by trying another of the Ommegang Brewery's licensed brews
from your favorite fantasy series. Today we've got the batch from the Season 4
premiere, the "Fire And Blood"
Red Ale.
The first thing that jumps at you is the label art, there
are three different labels depicting each of Daenerys Targeryan's fire-breathing
gamebreakers. You are under no
obligation to collect all three, they're just nifty. I hope there's prints of
the dragon art that can be purchased. I should look that up.
The label reads,
"Born of fire, like Daenerys' dragons, this ale's deep, dark red hue
evokes their every blazing breath. Sweet malt succumbs to wispy dryness, tinged
with nutty spelt, spicy hops and rye, as ancho chilies portend piquant dark
fruit. Pour slowly, to not disturb yeast
sediment, but with vigor to make a luxurious head and free the bouquet."
Wonderful, my beer has an instruction guide. And a cork. Take care in opening
this up, it's not like champagne. For one, you'll actually want to drink this.
On my first pour, there is a head thicker than dragonscale,
and more unruly than a hungry Drogon with vigorous bubble popping. The body is
dark red, and cloudy with yeast. It has favorable parallels to a heifeweizen, with
its cloudy yeast body and a rich vibrant bouquet. To me, it was ripe with corriander, what at
first I thought was clove but really was the chilies, some floral and fruity
notes. I swear I could detect the presence of banana in this batch, probably
from the diversity of the malts: pilsner, Cara-60, Midnight Wheat,
flaked rye and spelt. There's also a vibrant hops flavor, a mix of CTZ,
Styrian Golding, and German Tettnang, that pairs well with the de-seeded Ancho
to give its bite some real teeth. The hoppy chilie bite smooths out at the back
of your tongue. The malt and the chilie balance out, the sweetness of
one and the bitterness of the other. A full bodied, powerful brew, like
Balerion of ages past. Speaking freely,
this goes straight to your head, one bottle will knock you on your ass, I'm not
even kidding. What's the alcohol content for this? By the Seven, 6.8% ABV?!
Drink this with friends, my friends. I bet a slice of blood orange would
compliment this like crazy. This is so good. The Ommegang brewers put in
overtime to make this one special!
This is encouraging for the quality of the next licensed brew, an Abbey
Dubbel named "Valar Morghulis." I'll report on my findings as soon as
I find a bottle. Till then, I'm your humble beer blogger, and the bar is
closed.
