3-for-1 Review, Golden and Red & Strawberry Ales

"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder" - Kinky Friedman


Just like that the holidays came and went and we forgot to review a couple of beauties that were made just for the occasion(s).

The Dos Amigos golden ale was designed for spicy, grilled and fried food, to cleanse the palate without filling you up. It features a lovely golden near pale color with a very light body, tight white head with a fairly bitter and aromatic finish. On it's own that bitterness is a bit off-putting to most locals accustomed to local lagers (though Adrian and I love it), but when paired with food it's a different thing all together. I noticed a clear shift in the flavor of the hops as well. Alone it's almost floral and citrus, but washing down a spicy sausage off the grill the fresh, piney (to my palate anyway) notes from the Cascade hops become much clearer. The light body and low alcohol (less than 4%) means that you fill up on the food not the brew, and you can sip all afternoon long.

The Red Ale seemed to be a bigger hit with local drinkers. The roasted barley gives it a beautiful brownish red color and adds a lovely toasted/chocolatey finish. It's not nearly as bitter and the hops notes are more reserved than with the golden ale. It features a fairly light body (though still a bit more than the golden) with a slightly caramel head and is probably easier for most folks to drink on its own.

It took a mixed 6-pack to Guanacaste and got a split vote with a slight edge going to the Golden Ale...but of course we were grilling! Sit-around drinking seems to go to the Red Ale.

Brewing fruit beers is not easy, in order to showcase the fruit, you need to have a base beer that doesn't over overpowers it's malt or hop aroma and allows the fruit it self to come forward; also, the type of fruit you use is key to the success of the beer. I have to admit that, strawberry is not the best fruit to be use in fruits, it has a mild/gently aroma that struggles to overcome the malts and hops, you can (if you understand what you are looking for) feel a mild strawberry aroma but the fruit it self, provides a bit of astringency to the mouth feel; light brown in color, with a nice with head it is not a bad beer after all, but not the best we have brew. A very good learning experience but I don't think Dos Amigos will continue to work on it (we'd rather focus on our "Converter Pumpkin Spice Ale").

Our next project: Dos Amigos' Gambrinus Cocoa Stout.

Happy new year and happy brewing!!!

See you soon!!!