Ninkasi Believer Double Red

Dark red amber with a thick medium head. Good lacing. Malty nose and good mouthfeel. Apricots, peaches, cherries, and a bitter hop finish. A quality brew, though too hoppy for a strong ale IMHO.

Bottle.Pours a dark reddish amber color with a small off-white head. Has a malty hoppy aroma with some hints of caramel. Sweetish malty hoppy citrus flavor with hints of caramel. Has a sweetish malty hoppy bitter caramel finish.

Bottle from The Beer Authority, pored a rich, red color with a medium head. Good lacing and a sweet aroma. Big, smooth malt flavor balanced by a spicy hop finish. I’ll have this one again and again.

The only other Ninkasi beers I’ve had are the Tricerahops (one of my favorites) and the Total Domination. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Ninkasi just throws hops at everything and hopes for the best. Not that this is a bad thing. True to the name, it certainly looks ruddy. The "rich dark malt complexity" doesn’t make much of an appearance other than in the aroma. I could drink this a lot.

A nice if not typical American strong. Aroma was mostly dish soap with a strong citrus element. Pour was a dark gold wiht a good bit of bubbles and a one finger off white head. Taste was mostly strong and earthy hops with a strong light caramel backbone and a moderate alcohol burn. Very good.

Bomber. Pours a deep, dark crimson, almost cherrywood color. A thick, frothy head of yellowish-tan foam leaves dense, sheety rings of lacing on the glass. The nose is well balanced, with sweet notes of darkly toasted caramel, burnt toffee, cherry, and goji berry being countered nicely by light pine resin and bittersweet orange peel. Flavors are similar, with caramelized dark fruits and brown sugar malts equalizing the biting bitterness of citrus rind, pine, and wildflowers. The twangy berry note is there again, along with fleshy blood orange. There’s a lightly pungent, leathery tobacco note in the background. Falling just on the heavy side of medium bodied, the palate sports a semi-dry, well carbonated consistency. Interesting brew. Reminds me a bit of Cigar City’s Emperor Shennong’s Wolfberry Ale, only not as lush and well pulled together. Tasty stuff.

I’m learning to think of Ninkasi the same way I think of Rogue - decent flavors and good ideas, but everything they brew tastes watered down. This one (on tap at Snoose Junction) pours a dark amber with a small head. Very malty - ripe fruits, and some brown sugars... not nearly enough hops to counter. Above all, it tastes like someone drank half my beer and then stuck it under the faucet to make it seem like they hadn’t. Any ale marked "double" needs to be far stronger than this, in both flavor and abv. I’m disappointed.

Draft at the College Inn in Seattle.

Pours a nice deep hazy red-brown with a small head. Good fruity aroma, Earthy hops with apple and apricot, balancing nicel with the strong malt body (not too sugary, little of that Lagunitas burnt caramel stuff going on).

Pretty durn solid.