Red Hoptober - New Belgium Brewing

Mojo

Alabama

3.73/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This offering pours up a deep copper, amost bronze color with a nice khaki head. There is decent retention and world class lacing (if there is such a thing.) The nose is floral, grass, nuts, and biscuit. Taste is very dry with the hop profile dominating the flavor. I also get a bit of citrus fruit upfront. Mouthfeel is okay with decent carbonation and a not completely unpleasant aftertaste. I'd probably drink this again, but I wouldn't actively search for it. But it's not bad, especially if you prefer a dry finish.

Serving type: bottle

11-10-2012 05:50:09 | More by Mojo

arizcards

Arizona

3.9/5  rDev +2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Picked up a sixer from Total Wine in mid-September for $7.99.

Beer poured a deep amber with a nice off white head that is leaving lacing behind.

Nose is bready caramel malts and citrus hops.

Taste is very well balanced, bready caramel malts finishes with a nice citrus hop,

Mouthfeel is medium, pretty smooth, satisfying.

Overall a nice addition to the NBB lineup. My brother and i shared several bottles at a recent tailgate and he thoroughly enjoyed the brew. Recommended.

Serving type: bottle

11-07-2012 00:32:11 | More by arizcards

gpogo

California

4.28/5  rDev +12.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A- Clear reddish brown body with a small tannish white head.

A- Sweet malts slight hints of caramel with a substantial aroma of citrusy hops.

T- How surpising, a very interesting and delicious brown ale sort of taste with a nice roasted malt. Nice balanced bitterness throughout. Very crisp. Bready slightly caramel finish.

M- Medium body, moderate carbonation. Very smooth and crisp.

D- This beer caught me off guard as to what I was expecting and at first I was very hesitant to enjoy it. I think it is a very good beer and definitely very drinkable. I hope to see it next season.

Serving type: bottle

11-02-2012 04:51:48 | More by gpogo

Bookseeb

Washington

3.73/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Appearance has a dark ruby red color supporting a healthy head giving way to fair lace. Smell has a nice balance of hops and malts with aromas of citrus and caramel malts. Taste holds a helping of hops giving way to citrusy grapefruit, but not overpowering the malt. Mouthfeel is medium light with good carbonation. Overall a very nice fall seasonal.

Serving type: bottle

10-31-2012 01:18:52 | More by Bookseeb

MDDMD

Pennsylvania

3.68/5  rDev -2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

A-brown amber color with a nice off-white head and good lacing

S-fruity, herbal, toasted bread, slight floral notes

T-light roasted malt, fruit, herbal and earthy

F-medium body with moderate carbonation, crisp

O-a decent amber ale, but depth of flavor not as prevalent as others

Serving type: bottle

10-29-2012 23:06:03 | More by MDDMD

brother_kenneth

Virginia

3/5  rDev -20.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Poured from into a pint glass.

A- Nice dark red color. Minimal amount of tannish/white foam, doesn't last very long.

S- Toasted malts and hops are the most evident in the nose. There is a good bit of caramel / burnt sugar.

T- The taste is very malty and nutty. The hops blend very well here, Cascades I believe. This is not an ultra-sweet red, but is definitely what I consider to be a "malt bomb." Think big toasty malts and caramel, with hops in the background.

M- About average on the mouth for this type of malty brew. Light to medium body with just the right amount of carbonation.

O- This is what I consider to be a great seasonal beer. It is not extreme, it is not incredible. It is just very drinkable for the fall season. It is a bit different than most of the others out there, in that there are at least initially some noticeable hops. I plan to drink a few more of these before they are gone this year.

Serving type: bottle

10-29-2012 22:21:31 | More by brother_kenneth

scvance

South Carolina

4.08/5  rDev +7.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Poured from a bottle into a pint glass.

Pours a deep amber color with a thick, long lasting tan head. Excellent retention and lacing. Aroma is quite strong, definitely some earthy notes, dark fruit, slight alcohol, and a little yeast. Taste is bitter right up front. Earthy, piney, bitterness, wonderful fall hop character. Slightly sweet tasting. Medium carbonation and a medium body. This beer has a lingering bite to the finish, and is slightly resin like in the mouthfeel. An excellent dark pale fall style for sure, I definitely recommend giving this beer a try.

Serving type: bottle

10-28-2012 21:44:37 | More by scvance

DavidST

Texas

4/5  rDev +5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a pint glass, best before Nov. 11, 12. This pours a nice reddish amber color with a large odd white head with good retention and leaves a lacing. The smells are a nice bit of hops, and caramel. The feel is medium. The taste is good nice amount of hops and caramel malts.

Serving type: bottle

10-28-2012 05:20:35 | More by DavidST

AEArider

Arizona

4/5  rDev +5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured a deep amber with a tan head and swell lacing. Consistently pleasing. . . smell is of a malt base with hop resin, citrus, spices, and grass floating on top. Taste is hoppier than expected from the style, with a bready base layered with lots of grassy and piney overtones. Smooth mouthfeel with an ideal level of carbonation. Well enjoyed.

Serving type: bottle

10-28-2012 05:05:42 | More by AEArider

WastingFreetime

Wisconsin

3.9/5  rDev +2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Reviewed from notes.

Pours out a coppery reddish amber color with two fingers of cream colored craggy head that lasts for about two minutes and leaves behind interesting patterns and swirls of lacing. Light crisp texture and assertively carbonated.

Smells of musty and earthy hopping but mostly of herbal tea-like hop spectrum over the top of toasted bread slices. The flavor has these elements but also includes pine and grapefruit pith at a medium-light level, and some light toasted nut flavors join the party as the glass warms up. Its a good interplay between the nuttiness, the toasted bread, and the somewhat higher than usual hopping for an amber (It easily crosses the line into typical PA hopping strength.) Check this one out if you like the notion of mostly herbal hopping on toasted bread malts as the central focus for a sessionable ABV beer.

Serving type: bottle

10-24-2012 05:08:54 | More by WastingFreetime

homebrew311

Illinois

4.05/5  rDev +6.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Served on tap at Lucky Monk. Appearance is clear and dark red with a thin layer of tan head. Copious amounts of sticky lacing and decent head retention are present. Aroma is freh and hoppy with a huge dose of cascade hops. Relatively one note on the nose, grapefruit and pine make up the hop profile. The taste is rather hoppy as well with a decent presence of caramel an amber malt. Fairly bitter by the mid palate with an earthy finish. Mouthfeel is medium with appropriate carbonation. Overall, this is nice and fresh and quite tasty. This is a little more drinkable than ranger, well made brew.

Serving type: on-tap

10-24-2012 00:58:09 | More by homebrew311

Darkmagus82

Montana

3.8/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Poured from bottle into pint glass

Appearance – Pours a clear reddish amber color with a one finger off white head. The head fades overall a moderate amount of time to give a decent level of lacing.

Smell – The aroma is of roasted malt as well as some more hop heavy aromas. The hops are a mix of pine and some herbal aromas. Less sweet then the traditional red, but quite nice.

Taste – The taste starts out with a bready and nutty flavor with hints of some roasted malt. With these flavors are a good presence of pine. The pine fades a bit more toward the middle as some caramel flavors come to the tongue. At the end some of the sweetness fades again as more pine and a lighter herbal hop come to the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is on the slightly above average side with a carbonation level that is average. Good for the lightly roasted and hop flavors of the beer while still maintaining a great drinkability.

Overall – A fairly tasty brew with some nice mild to medium hop presence and decent roasted flavors.

Serving type: bottle

10-21-2012 01:57:16 | More by Darkmagus82

daliandragon

North Carolina

3.88/5  rDev +2.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Picked this up today at the local Harris Teeter not really expecting much. However, an aggressive head reveals a handsome dark copper and an uncharacteristically large foamy head for the style. Plenty of sticky lace once that head recedes. Nose is balanced and matches caramel malt to spicy west coast hops.

Definitely hoppier than I'm used to for the style, and probably more visceral malt as well. Almost like an Indian brown more than a traditional red, but it certainly has its perks. Mellow in body but plenty of flavor. Solid, balanced aftertaste that lasts . Nothing complicated here but it is tasty and goes down smooth.

New Belgium generally produces decent beers but this one is a nice surprise; a bit outside the box but well worth trying.

Serving type: bottle

10-21-2012 00:24:00 | More by daliandragon

scratch69

Missouri

3.45/5  rDev -9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

I poured a bottle into a pint glass.

Appearance- Clear reddish-brown color with a half a fingers worth of light tan head. Very light amount of lacing.

Smell- Light aroma of nuttiness and herbal hops.

Taste- Light hop flavor with bread, caramel malt, and nuts. Hop flavor almost disappears after a few swallows.

Mouthfeel- Medium bodied, smooth and slightly creamy. Fair amount of bubbly carbonation.

Overall- I received a sixer of this as a gift. Drinkable but I wouldn't but it myself. This beer makes me think of a toned down IPA.

Serving type: bottle

10-20-2012 17:23:28 | More by scratch69

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

3.53/5  rDev -6.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Reddish brown appearance, small head, beige, only 1/4" but the beer's carbonation was just fine, I happened to really like the color. Aroma, pretty mild, there's some malt huskiness to it, but nothing too aromatic, especially for having the name hoptober, the hop aroma was far from being forward.

The taste does yield more evidence of hops, but they are still playing second fiddle, but its done the right way. Immediately makes me think this is just as much winter warmer as it is an amber ale. Robust malt, but a carbonation and hop bitterness that doesn't bog down the palate into malt bomb territory. Sweet caramel leads. Definitely fits the bill as a beer for the fall and/or October.

Its actually probably best described as what you might get if you blended Fat Tire with Jubelale.

Serving type: bottle

10-17-2012 20:38:03 | More by Beerandraiderfan

GossageBrewery

Missouri

4.28/5  rDev +12.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Poured this Red Ale from a 12 oz bottle into a pint glass. Poured a clear reddish amber color, produced a thick off white head, featured excellent retention and left ample lacing on the glass. The "hoppiest" smelling Red Ale I have come across, pine and citric notes. Medium in body, this is an excellent example of the Red Ale style....Most red ale's are sort of boring, not much sets them apart, however this ale had such a strong hop flavor. A based of malted grain, citrus and pine throughout the session. Well balanced, great take on an ordinary style.

Serving type: bottle

10-17-2012 19:59:47 | More by GossageBrewery

vkv822

Oregon

3.93/5  rDev +3.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

12oz : tulip

Clear amber read, foamy off-white head, decent lacing.

For the style, fairly hop-forward, with resiny pine, and citric notes upfront in both taste and nose, followed by a bready, malty base.

A medium body, with average bubbly carbonation.

One of the better examples of this style of beer. Hop-forward, but still well balanced with the malts. Something that's easy to get through a 6-pack of.

Serving type: bottle

10-17-2012 09:08:58 | More by vkv822

tjsdomer2

Illinois

4.35/5  rDev +14.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Appearance: Extremely thick white fluffy foam and superb lacing. Amber red in color with good carbonation. The foam and lacing really get me with this.

Smell: Sweet, smokey nuttiness with a hint of peppery hops. Very nice, although I'd like it a bit bolder.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Smokey hazelnuts in the head with some earthly maple syrup in the background. Reminds me of Rogue Hazelnut a bit. Nice peppery bitterness in the finish as well. Excellent body, although I'd like it to be a big crisper. I love the flavors, I really like the mouthfeel.

Overall Drinkability: One of best, if not the best, from New Belgium.

Serving type: bottle

10-14-2012 22:47:18 | More by tjsdomer2

chinchill

South Carolina

3.98/5  rDev +5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

On tap at Fall for Greenville Fest.

Pours very clear, a dark red-amber color with a very good head.

Plenty of hop aroma. Both the nose and the flavor are fresh, fruity, and clean. Has a complex hop-based sensory array, with fruity, herbal and floral aspects. A hint of charred weed.

M: Crisp with medium body and carbonation. Clean finish.

Overall: a hoppy, aromatic red ale that is easy to drink.

Serving type: on-tap

10-14-2012 03:22:59 | More by chinchill

DocJitsu

California

4/5  rDev +5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a clear brown-copper with a short, sticky caramel-colored head. Roasted smoky malt and grapefruit aromas. The moutfheel is a little thin and wet with some scrubbing toward the end and a powdery finish. This is a Porter meets Calofornia Pale Ale. Coffee up front with floral and citrus hops being picked up in that order. There are some interesting things going on with this one. Otherwise, it's average.

Serving type: bottle

10-13-2012 04:29:06 | More by DocJitsu

Mavigo

Michigan

4.23/5  rDev +11.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Got this on sale from Meijers, was impressed with the Fat Tire ale I had from New Belgium the other week, so let's do it.

A: Pours a ruby-amber color, with a short white head that dissipates relatively quickly with some lacing

S: Smells bitter, woody, very hoppy, earthy

T: very light hops, considering the smell of the beer, reminds me of the taste of leaves, but not in a bad sense. If this made sense, you could say it tastes like fall, it captures the feeling of fall.

M: Very crisp and refreshing, moderate to lower levels of carbonation, surprising for its color, very smooth.

O: Overall this is a great beer, the name justifies it, very good fall blend. Great buy.

Serving type: bottle

10-12-2012 02:06:39 | More by Mavigo

rlee1390

Indiana

3.98/5  rDev +5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A-Clear amber, some carbonation, two finger head.

S-Caramel, chocolate, roasted notes, earthy pine notes as well.

T-Starts with a mesh of caramel and roasty notes, earthy hops as well, with a nice mild bitterness.

M-Medium bodied, nice carbonation, velvety.

O-A surprisingly good beer. Wasn't expecting much but this beer was good.

Serving type: bottle

10-10-2012 23:37:55 | More by rlee1390

CMUbrew

Michigan

4.23/5  rDev +11.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

22 oz bomber into a Founders imperial pint
Reviewed from notes

A: Nice looking whitish head on top of a dark copper body. Head retention is pretty decent, and I end up with pretty good lacing all over the glass.

S: Piney hops nestled into a suprisingly substantial toasty malt presence in the nose.

T: Same as the nose. Very tasty piney hop flavor that is neither too aggressive nor lacking in any way. The toasty malts are a great compliment to the hop flavor. Really nice.

M: Smooth and easy drinking. About what a good beer should feel like.

O: I wasn't expecting too much from this beer because of the style, but I was pleasantly surprised. So much flavor for an amber, and I'm glad I got to enjoy a whole 22oz of it. Consider me impressed. I hope this makes a return next fall.

Serving type: bottle

10-10-2012 05:29:44 | More by CMUbrew

Mosstrooper

California

4/5  rDev +5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from 12oz bottle into Duvel tulip glass.

Appearance: Clear, deep amber color with a large brownish head that dissipates slowly and leaves behind large spots of foam.

Smell: Earthy aromas with pine and some citrus and a bready backing.

Taste: Begins nutty and bready, rounding out to some sweet caramel and finishing with a balanced bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with balanced carbonation and a watery but slightly dry finish.

Overall: Not quite outstanding, but solid overall with almost perfect balance. Definitely tastes like fall.

Serving type: bottle

10-07-2012 21:08:58 | More by Mosstrooper

Siriusfisherman

Montana

3.95/5  rDev +4.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Appearance: Gorgeous dark, clear red with a two-finger white head and some great lacing.

Smell: Some slightly rindy, grassy hops, definantly pulling out the centennial and some nice grapefruity and citrusy notes. The malt is detectable in the nose, bread and toasted cracker. Very clean in the yeast department.

Taste: A nice hop bitterness up front, that fades out into some citrusy and grassy hops and a nice toasty edge to the malt. The malt is very well sculpted, not ever going into a robust sweet aftertaste, but instead acting purpose built to give some crisper crust and biscuit notes to enhance the dryness. With that said there is some sweetness to the aftertaste from the roasted or dark caramel malts used, as well as plenty of lingering hop flavor.

Mouthfeel: This beer has a nice silky mouthfeel and a moderate amount of carbonation, which gives it a mouthfeel that is rare with any beer around 6% alcohol. Instead of pushing the carbonation to give it that refreshing bite, they seem to have steered for a beer where a slower more savory sip is the method of preference. But still, maybe a little thin if I am being picky.

Overall: This is a light IPA that has been carefully balanced with some darker malts achieving a killer session brew. This is a highly recommended seasonal by me, and it is my favorite New Belgium beer to date.

Serving type: bottle

10-07-2012 20:09:24 | More by Siriusfisherman