It’s here. The day we’ve been waiting for since we picked our first Beer Label of the Week.
Sierra Nevada has released their new seasonal, Flipside Red IPA. I’m sure a release party at Sierra Nevada’s pub in Chico is forthcoming but Flipside hit the shelves of their gift shop today and we scampered over to pick up a six pack and try it out. This new beer will fit between Tumbler and Celebration in their seasonal releases. Stephanie and I sat down with a couple bottles to discuss how this beer turned out.
Keith – Flipside pours a nice copper red. It has a reasonable off white head with a carbonation level similar to Sierra Nevada’s other ales. The text on the box boasts “abundant topical fruit and citrus hop flavors” but I’m getting more pine in the aroma.
Stephanie – Flipside is my favorite beer color, deep copper. I love red ales and IPAs, so a red IPA is the best of both worlds for me. I get pine and flowers, with a hint of grapefruit in the aroma. The first taste is all pine for me, grapefruit following with a slightly resinous, tropical finish. The malt character in this beer is really the stand out for me though. It provides a strong yet balanced support for all that hop goodness. As the color indicates the malt character is caramel, roast, with a nice toasty finish.
Keith – It lives up to the Red IPA style claim. Lots of delicious malts and lots of hops creates a great balance that you don’t get with standard IPAs. Red IPAs and Black IPAs are really my favorite styles. Lots of the hops I love, but with enough malt and body to provide balance. The pine from the aroma shows up at first when I taste it until the somewhat roasty malts take over. The tropical hop flavor dominates the finish, with some sweet maltiness. There are hints of citrus throughout. I agree that overall the malt character stands out, but it’s still an IPA; it takes a lot of hops to balance this beer so well and still contribute to the flavor and aroma.
Stephanie – I was surprised by the amount of roastiness in the beer, given the color I was not expecting roastiness. Flipside is well balanced but still assertively bitter. I also find Flipside refreshing and easy to drink. . I am a total hop head so “easy drinking” may mean something different to other people than it does to me. The mouth feel has a slight carbonation bite that I enjoy and has a medium body to it. I will definitely be sad to see this one go at the end of the season. I would recommend this beer to anyone that drinks IPAs. I think even the stout and porter lovers will appreciate the maltiness of this beer.
