The first in our character beer series, a throw back to our
garbage pale kid collecting days, comes Vlad The ImPALEr. a deep red pale ale
inspired by one of history's most notorious badasses. Post humously dubbed Vlad
the Impaler, for his particularly sadistic and bloody reputation of impaling
his enemies. Vlad also adopted the moniker Dracula, meaning 'son of the
dragon.' As a historical tribute, Cervetech presents a Pale Ale worthy of the
ruthless figure.
In crafting Vlad we went with some of the more typical grains used to make a red, such as special b malt at first what really makes Vlad a cut above the rest is our use of some of the more exotic ingredients our local climate provides. The red fleshed Dragon fruit (which grows locally from May to November) proved to be an excellent choice for commemorating 'the son of the dragon.'
Vlad
pours a deep yet bright, rich, red brew and holds a finger head of white
bubbles. This brew shows nice head retention, leaving some lacing behind as it
goes down. Carbonation on the first batch was towards the high end although not
unpleasant. The aroma is all hops and this brew runs you through the gauntlet
between spicy, floral and citric hops. Flavors are towards the tropical end
with some pineapple, grapefruit, and cactus. Cactus??? Remember Dragonfruit is
after all a cactus fruit also known as Pitaya. Your first impression of this
beer might be sweet at first, but do not be fooled because a well-balanced hop
bitterness will be quickly taking center stage. As you sip, bitterness of
grapefruit, lemon rind and piney spice remind you that we are hop head brewers
with the best intentions of not making an IPA but sometimes we fall short of
that task. The middle peaks with a bit of caramel mostly attributed to the use
of special b malt (one of our favs). The
finish is slightly boozey but not overpowering, after all this is a 7.5%
abv. The aftertaste takes you back to
the front end hops, with bitterness coated in resiny hop oils.
After trying
this beer, you too will agree that this is a bloody good pale ale. I don't want to give away what the next brew
in the character series will be but I will say that it makes two extremes make
a lot of sense...
