Liquid Mistress
Brewery: Siren
Type: IPA
Alcohol: 5.8%
Country: England
Siren has been showing up more and more in my local beer shops here in Odense, Denmark. I have had some spectacular beers from this brand new brewery in the past year or so. I jump on any new ones I see in the shops or on tap. Liquid Mistress though is going to have a tough go of it. Red IPAs are tough. A combination of a red or amber ale and an IPA, these hybrids are quite popular in the US. I have had quite a few over there, and liked about 10% of them. This will be my first European produced exampled (although made by an American brewmaster). Lets see if the Mistress makes it into the 10%.
Pours a dark dark dark color. I will call it deep ruby red, or well actually I would call it brown but since it's called a red IPA I will just go with it. Nice big creamy tan head with good retention. Leaves a nice thick curtain of foam around the glass, really nice in that department. The smell is far more malty then beers with the three letters IPA in the title usually are. This is far more into your black IPA smell territory. The malt wafts back and forth between biscuit and dark sweet Carmel and fruits with a touch of nice citrus hops giving a bright citrus note to the end. The taste is very biscuity with a bit of burned caramel and rye spice. The hop profile is less pronounced in taste, a little citrus, but more there to add a decent bitter kick to the end of the dark maltiness. Very dry and slightly fruity bitter finish. A perfectly enjoyable beer, although its a little muddled for me. The red IPAs I have had in the past usually ere more on the cautious side of malt and beef up the hops, making it a slightly red colored normal hoppy IPA. Those are the kind I like. This is much more on the side of a black IPA, or just slightly more aggressively hopped amber ale. A little less caramel malt and a little more hops, then it would be up my alley. As I said though a perfectly nice beer to drink if you can find it, just not my ideal specimen. Has not changed my opinion of Siren being awesome, just makes me appreciate the beers I like even more.
