Ninkasi Believer Double Red

Brewed by Ninkasi Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Eugene, Oregon USA

Bottle, with many thanks once again to bitbucket. Pours a very very dark red, medium-depth but persistent beige head, nice, sticky lacing. Nose is hops, fruit, caramel grains and mat. Hops and big toffeeish malt are immediately present on the palate, big, heavy, moderately sweet, and a bit boozy throughout. Basically an APA or Bitter on steroids. An interesting effort, worth tasting, if it wasn’t 800 miles away, worth trying again.

Bottled, pours deep amber/ruby with tan head, huge hop aroma with fruity alcohol notes, nice alcohol spice with roasted hints and hop bitters on palate, very nice

22 oz bottle. Pours dark amber with a very slight red hue. Big foamy head with a ton of lacing. Aroma of subtle maltiness. Flavor is mainly sweet malt, with some roastiness, and some hop bitterness in the background. Not much of a finish, some bitterness that disappears quickly. Very rich. Not as complex and full bodied as I would expect for a strong ale. Regardless, still a decent beer.

Sweet malt aroma with a touch of licorice & clove. Slightly cloudy reddish amber in appearance. Flavor is basically a straight up malt taste with a hoppy eucalyptus aftertaste. Overall, not too bad... a decent effort.

22 oz bomber I picked up from my Seattle trip. Pours a deep and rich red hued brown. Big frothy light brown head. Beer is full of tight small bubbles. Nose is full of rich sweet malts, cinnamon, toast dark malts, brown sugar. Flavors do not follow through with the great nose. Very malt, hops are muted in flavor but still have a medium bitterness to the mouth. Alcohol is not well hidden. Some wood notes too. A pretty good beer.

Bottle pours a murky redish brown with a small tan head. Aroma of woody brown sugary malts and some metalic piney hops. Flavor is more woody and metalic. Earthy and fairly bitter but not much flavor that I can fondly describe. Just a murky, muddy mess. Tree bark bitter trailer, and a feeling of utter disappointment. I have reason to expect greater things fron this brewer. Maybe next time.

Fluffy off-tan head. 22 oz. purchased at John’s Market Place in Portland, Oregon. Deep dark caramel brown. Fairly transparent, but it is very dark. Nice malt/hop balance. A very nice and sweet malt, but also balanced. The hops are definitely present. Wow, pretty good beer. Very malty, but it doesn’t have that hop backing that I was hoping it would have. More malty than sweet. Not excatly a thick beer, but a nice semi-smooth beer. Again, a little too malty for me. Plenty of great malts, but I feel with that it should be classified differently; decent brew.

A great spin on the red ale. Like a Belgian strong, but not too strong. Good malty feel with a bit of fruits and good hop balance.