In the past couple weeks, I've had a fairly busy life. Between work, going home for a wedding, and going to 2 Reds' baseball games this past week, it's been life in the fast lane for a little while. It's about time I take some time out for beer stuff.
About 2 weeks ago, 4 Hands released a variant of their summer seasonal Prussia Berliner Weiss. For those of you that are beer nerds out there, you know a Berliner is a sour mash beer, which means brewed a little different, that generally has lower alcohol content and a slight tart or sour flavor profile. This style has been a summer favorite in Europe since the time of Napolean, and now Americans are starting to enjoy them more and more.
For this post we're going to be talking about Prussia and its variant, Ruby Red Prussia, which uses ruby red grapefruit juice in its brewing process.
To start, I found the regular Prussia to be a fairly average to slightly above, American version of the Berliner style. More lemony with its tart flavor that others, the sourness wasn't overwhelming, and got balanced out by a very grainy wheat presence in the beer. The wheat flavors all came towards the end of the drink, with the tartness being up front, and really reminded you that, although this is a light, tart style, its roots are in a wheat beer. Check out the full review here.
Next up, Ruby Red Prussia. As you can see in the picture above, the Ruby Red pours a darker, more pink in color on the left side. The difference in the size of head was quite noticeable, but that was due mostly to my own incompetence at pouring. The grapefruit was instantly noticeable in the Ruby Red, providing a somewhat drying, fruity flavor to the base Prussia. I've never really eaten grapefruit plain, but this fruit was a good addition to the Berliner style. I think maybe a blueberry or blackberry done similarly would be even better. I hope to start seeing a lot more beer ideas like this. Other than the grapefruit flavor, this version was the same as regular Prussia; mildly tart, grainy and wheaty on the end, light and highly carbonated for a quenching drink on a summer day. Check out the full review here.
Since those beers were a couple days old, we're going to try a new interesting take on fruit in beer today in the form of Stone's new collaboration; R&R Coconut IPA. To clarify the story on this one, similar to the Wootstout from a post or two ago, this is a collaboration. R&R stands for Ryan and Robert, the two homebrewers made this recipe originally. In addition, the frounder of Rip Current Brewing helped them to dial this recipe in, and then they took it to Stone for larger scale production and distribution. There's a full story if you search the internet or get a bottle; I'm too lazy to tell it.
First off, this beer is a beautiful pour. It's clear golden in the glass with an average sized head, but tremendous retention and lacing. The scent was intriguing, with the usual floral and tropical IPA scents, but a touch of coconut in the too. The taste was insane. So much hops bitterness right up front mask many nuances in the flavor. Only a small hint of the coconut in the middle to end of the drink. This is one of the most bitter beers I have ever had. Check out the full review here.
So there it is; an assortment of fruity beers, but none are how you would normally think of fruity beers. The grapefruit Berliner opened up some cool ideas for Berliners, but the coconut IPA....it had a good idea, and not great execution. Either way, it's an exciting time to be a beer fan in America.
Also, the Reds beat the Cardinals today. Time to make a push for a Reds October! Until next time, cheers and go Reds!
-Chris
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