Central City / Flying Monkeys Red On Red Imperial Double Red Collaboration Ale

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

Dark reddish brown colour pour with a medium sized beige head. The head retains most of the way and leaves a fair amount of lacing. It has a fresh earthy, pine and fruity aroma. Great flavour, very hop forward and almost like a black ipa. Flavour is strong citrus fruit, grapefruit and lemon rind, pineapple, herbal and very earthy. A caramel malt sweetness helps the balance. Boozy warmth towards the end. Smooth and oily mouthfeel. Very enjoyable. Would like to see it back someday.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

A collaboration of two great Canadian breweries with funky labels, and big on hop. Loads of dark fruits nose at first pour. Clean copper colour with a frothy light beige head, great retention and thick-creamy lacing. After breathing, aromas of grass come out with tamari notes and caramel. Goes down nicely with not much burning and not too heavy. Kind of wet with a slight dry finish. The taste is hoppy as well with some bitterness from the grass, overpowering the malts. Pine and citrus flavours with hints of other exotic fruits appearing with time. Hard to believe this is close to 10% ABV as it feels like a regular American IPA mixed with a light red ale.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Pours a pretty thick frothy beige head and leaves some patchy lacing. Has a dark amber appearance with red hues. Automatically getting strong citrus and floral hop aromas. Very well balanced hop and malt flavours. Strong citrus hops backed up with some sweet and bready malts, as well as lemon. A little bit of caramel and toffee come through in the finish. Nice smooth and velvety mouthfeel with a mild warming sensation. High abv is just noticeable enough. Full bodied. A good mix of west coast hops and sweet malts, very drinkable. :)

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

750ml bottle
9.5% ABV
King/Spadina LCBO Outlet (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
October 19, 2013

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

On tap@ The Bent Elbow - puts a shimmering copper-red ale in the tulip with a small off white cap that laces the glass. Aroma is complex big in tropical/exotic fruits earthy pine notes, sweet malts - wonderful nose to it. Silken delivery but super robust.... the palate is deluged in lush tones of guava, papaya married to rich red malt sweet roastiness finish is slow and silky accented by increased bittering - very lush and satisfying. Making a single hop double red with the new Mosaic hop and Munich red malts was a stroke of genius. The Mosaic is a Simcoe offshoot...like Citra on steroids, but it’s much more than that. Rich in Mango, lemon, citrus, earthy pine, tropical fruit, herbal and stone fruit notes....it gives this great red ale a triple whammy of hop presence in aroma, flavor and bittering and perfectly complements the malts chosen - I love this big red ale and I drink all I can get of it when it shows up - I'm hoping it is made available on a more frequent basis.