'Rise Of The Reds' comes out on top in the Red Ale category at the 45th Newcastle Beer & Cider Festival...
Over the weekend thousands of punters descended on Northumbria University Student Union for the annual CAMRA Newcastle Beer & Cider festival. In its 45th year, the festival showcased over 100 cask ales and a fine choice of ciders.
As always, the Battle of the Beers competition is a big part of the festival, especially for us. We opted to enter the Red Ale category, the other option being a Chocolate Stout. Our brewer Brais wanted to create an American style red/amber ale with an ABV of 5% using a variety of US hops (Chinook, Citra, Simcoe and a touch of Idaho 7) to bring a delicate balance of light citrus notes and biscuit flavours from the malt. A lot of thought went into this beer, and it certainly paid off as the beer claimed the number one spot in the competition!
The name 'Rise of the Reds' was thought up by Dom
who had been reading about the increasing population of red squirrels in Scotland, tied with the somewhat
low popularity of red ales in the beer scene at the moment. We think they definitely have their place and as proven, can be very tasty (red ales that is, not squirrels...). The pump clip artwork was inspired by Soviet propaganda posters, featuring a red squirrel with a bandolier filled with peanuts slung over his chest lifting a fist into the air.
The beer is now available as a limited special, so be quick to try a pint for yourself...