Thursday, February 24, 2011

Ninkasi ReNEWAle 2011: Mason’s Irish-Style Red Ale

by Alan

My brother-in-law's girlfriend was kind enough to give me Ninkasi's SLEIGH'R Dark Double Ale as a Christmas gift, and I've been keeping my eye out for other Ninkasi beer since then. We recently had a Bev'Mo open in our area, and I was excited to see that they keep a couple different Ninkasi beers in stock. During my last visit I picked up a seasonal brew, the Ninkasi ReNEWAle 2011 version. It has been nice and cold, and we even had some snow on our southern California mountains, so this seemed perfect.

Ninkasi's description:
"A New Year a New Beer! Each year ReNEWAle will be something new and special to enjoy while winter runs its course. For 2011 we brewed a delicious Irish-style red ale that’s smooth and refined with a hint of toasted malt and a clean finish. A great beer for a new year, cheers!"

My tasting notes:

  • Appearance - Clear Copper red with a light tan frothy head 
  • Smell - very light aroma, the hops aren’t at the forefront like other Ninkasi beers I’ve had. Slightly earthy 
  • Taste - Lots of bite, fairly bitter but light bodied beer with a dry finish 
  • Mouth feel - thick chewy beer, a perfect smooth warming beer for the winter 
  • Drinkability - Easy enough to drink, not a very high alcohol 5.2%, A couple pints in a pub or a nice 22oz by the fire on a cold night is perfect.

Overall, it was a good beer, and I'll be looking for more Ninkasi beers in the future!

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