Papago El Diablo Rojo

Formerly brewed at Sonoran Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Phoenix, Arizona USA

A simply wonderful double red ale. Much like a double IPA but only darker and a little bit more malty. Wonderfully balanced. Strong in alcohol and hops. Didn’t get that nasty grapefruit type taste that you get in a lot of big American hoppy beers. Another nice job by my favorite drinking establishment. Just updated my review as the beer seems to have gotten hoppier (if that is possible) over the past year. Great beer!!!

A nice hazy amber color. Big bold hoppy aroma but not too overwhelming. Has a hint of orange peel and grapefruit. Mouthfeel is smooth and quaffable. Overall nicely balanced. It’s so drinkable that the alcohol content can sneek up on you. Still another favorite from papago.

On tap at Papago.
A double red ale, dark red amber in color with a small head and very little lacing. Heavy hops and citrus aroma. Flavor is all hops and citrus with a light, sweet malty finish. Awesome easy drinking beer!

Draught @ Papago. True amber pour, with a medium fluffy head. Good lacing. Aroma is bursting with fresh resiny hops, spicy hops, and toffee. Flavor is loads of hops and a nice malt backbone with out being too much, which made the beer different from an IPA or a 2IPA, and less malty that a hoppy barley wine. Alcohol is masked very well. Very lingering hop finish, and a great mouth feel. Excellent and very delicious beer.

In a blind tastes test, I would have guessed this is Arrogant Bastard, and that’s a good thing! Big sweet hop and alcohol flavor. Malty, smooth finish. A great beer.

Draught @ Papago

The beer fresh from the tap to my eager hands and face pours a somewhat hazy reddish-amber color with a portly semi-creamy light tan head that slowly dissipates leaving a silky sheet of lace to obscure the glass. Nose has a citrus like crispness, clean and fresh, hints of hops with a nice sweet malt aroma to back it up; start is slightly sweet with a nice grain profile, the top moderate in feel. Finish has a brisk acidic bite and the hops dynamic in their spiciness, and the 8.2 percent ABV makes itself known with a nice tummy warming feel, quite dry with a long lasting aftertaste, a really tasty brew tis true. Ron Kloth is a Master Brewer and a true “Beer Lovers Beer Lover”, and I am proud to say a good friend of mine, geez could I be a bit biased about Papago Beers and all the magnificent people who work there, and “Hell Yeah” frequent the establishment? Lol

I love finding hidden gems, and as the highest rated brew for an outstanding, undervisited brewpub, I found just that. Fresh hop aroma, with some citrus. Very nice. Dark, dirty dish water copper color. Small, off-white head. Nice hoppiness to it. Sweet and very enjoyable. Can tell it is higher in alcohol in the initial mouthfeel. I love this brew. Very well balanced. Excellent and very quaffable. My Dad who was with me suggested I only sample as much as I needed to rate it. My response was that I was enjoying it to much not to drink the whole pint.

Perhaps a little too dark to be a Double IPA, but this definitely fits the super hoppy bill.

This beer is a lightly hazy deep amber color, it has a frothy thin pale head atop it. The aroma is reminiscent of grapefruit, orange, and pine in the finish. The taste is sweet and fruity up front, with notes of candied orange peel, grapefruit, and tangerines. The finish moves from a strong herbal/ pine note to a solid bitterness that slowly fades with and astringent herbal character. This is quite well balanced between competing sweet caramalized malt notes and the hop notes that change between citrus domined, then herbal pine notes, and of course a solid bitterness. The hops clearly dominate this beer, and quite tasty, and it quite enjoyable.