Deschutes Red Chair IPA

Brewed by Deschutes Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Bend, Oregon USA

From bottle. Pours hazy orange/amber with medium frothy white head. More fruit than expected, grapefruit, delicious citrus of NW hops that is their signature with pale ales, but more malt backbone than expected. Not their strongest IPA, but a decent drinker. Bitter finish, but easily a session brew if in a different size. Nice, but not great.

Bottle:   Fireweed honey in color, cinnamon hues, large foamy off-white head, nice lacing, little or no carbonation.   Stale hop nose, slightly candyish, powdered sugar maybe.   Soft hoppiness on the tongue, also has a slight medicinal aspect.   Hmmm, not all that fresh.   Seems a little stale with a minor astringency.   Some citrus aspects, decent bite, fairly nice malt background.   Decent IPA, but has this slight artificial/medicinal aspect that detracts.   Usually most Deschutes offerings are rather tasty, but this one just seems a bit off.

Deschutes Brewery--Red Chair IPA--India Pale Ale--Bond Street Series--2009 Release. 22 oz. Bottle. 6.40% ABV--55 IBU’s. 4.5 / 5.0. IPA Big foamy thin white mild lace head. Clear fizzy bright thin pretty amber red color. Intense floral earthy hop malt front. Tangy mild sweet dry toasted hint caramel hop infused fully fermented mild fruit body. Dry rich hop spice clean mild bitter end. Resinous. Sampled 4/30/2009. $4.69 Each.

Pours a nice light amber with a dissipating head. There is tiny yeast clumps suspended throughout the beer! Aroma is red apple, floral hops, spruce, malts. Flavor is sweet malts and slight dustiness, along with red apple and fruity hops. Fairly full, creamy, rich body, almost like apple juice with much less sugar. Mild bitter finish; hops are there but not actually bitter. Fantastic IPA.

22 oz bottle, best by 8/09. Rusty amber with a pocked off-white head. Nose is orange, dough, spicy pine and toffee. Crisp medium light with a lingering tingle. Taste is caramel, juniper and grapefruit; a bit faded with a soft, hoppy finish and a peppery bite. Good session brew.

Good full bodied IPA. Quite hoppy and piney with a strong hop character. Very malty as well. The malt flavor balances the beer so that the hops are not too bitter. Similar to the Lagunitas IPA minus the coppery taste.

Hazy amber color; generous head. Very nice aroma of green hop cones, lightly fruity. Good toffee flavor, quite chewy, some sweetness too; strong bitterness, quite resiny. Solid.

650 ml bottle. Dark golden body with a big, creamy off-white head. Nice citric/peaches aroma. Flavor is sweet, caramel malt, rather bitter, citric fruity and some mild grapefruit. Medium body, refreshing even being a bit sweet, nice fruity/bitter balance.