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110k + OT Batch #4 Imperial Red Ale

Name – 110k + OT Batch #4 Imperial Red Ale
Country – United States
Type – American Red Ale

What a weekend.  Thanks everyone that came out to the MikeLovesBeer.com 3rd Anniversary Party at the Funky Buddha on Friday night it was a great time.  And one question keeps coming up after this event.  When are Brian and Casey going to perform again?  Very good question and one we will need them to answer.  Great job guys.

But back to business with some beer right?  Today’s review is of this years version of Cigar City’s 110k + OT series.  This year is an imperial red ale that they say is loosely based on their Tocobaga Red Ale but hopped up.  Let’s jump right in.

I pour it into my Cigar City snifter and it arrives a deep reddish brown color.  A nice sized tan head sits on top but is gone pretty quickly.

A lot of citrus and tropical aromas in there.  The hops are citrusy in nature.  Then a big caramel presence in the back.  Slight alcohol hint in the nose as well.  Pretty well balanced at least by scent.

The taste is pretty sweet.  The caramel is back again with the tropical fruit flavors.  It is then followed with some hop bitterness but quickly is back to the sweet malts.  The 10.2% ABV really shows up as it warms up.

A lot of people complained about last year’s 110k being too maltly.  We don’t really know if that was what it was meant to be like or if that was the whole idea behind “The Other West Coast IPA,” a term that many friends of mine had a hard time picking up on.

So when this year was said to be a hoppy red ale I was stoked.  But once I had it must say I was a tad disappointed.  While the nose was pretty on to what I expected the taste contained way more malts and sweetness than big hops.  The hops are there but not as much as I typically come to expect from hoppy red ales.  This is not to say it was a bad beer but below my expectations.

So much like last year I don’t know if this was exactly what the folks at CCB intended for it to taste like.  I have only had Tocobaga once and from what I remember it was quite hoppy.  So hearing that Tocobaga was the base recipe slightly puzzles me since they said this would be a big hoppy version.  Oh well.

Grade – B-

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2 Comments

  • Reply Casey (EvilTwin)

    Maybe Brian and I should plug in to the board and do an acoustic song for the podcast

    June 14, 2011 at 10:26 am
  • Reply Rob

    I’m glad I didn’t spend $15 for this beer then. I’ve heard a few other people echo your thoughts as well, but of course I wanted your opinion too.

    June 16, 2011 at 10:11 am
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