21st Amendment 'Toaster Pastry' India-Style Red Ale

21st Amendment Brewery 'Toaster Pastry' India-Style Red Ale. 7.6% abv. 74 IBU. Light amber color. An inch of beige foamy head. Excellent retention and superb lace. Nose of sweet bread, fruity hops. Front taste of bitter fruity hops, dark berry, herbal back end. Aftertaste of strong bitter fruit, herbal hop bite, spicy bready sustain. Medium body. Mouthfeel is warm, slightly thick, astringent.

This is an excellent beer with a complex flavor signature. There is no fruit in this beer, yet it tastes like berries atop bitter hops. The blend of fruity hops offers strong jammy taste up front with herbal and bready notes throughout, followed by an alcoholic tone as a lasting impression. That jammy fruit flavor underpins each sip, giving this brew a truly fruity, slightly spicy signature. Impressive beer, more complex than one would think. Highly recommended.

From the brewery:

"Our first beer out of our new brewery is an homage to its former life as a toaster pastry factory. Biscuit malts give the beer a slightly nutty, crust-like flavor, while pale and dark Crystal malts create the mouthfeel and flavors reminiscent of strawberry jam. Calypso and other experimental hops give this ruby ale a welcome bite, plus a few more in the hop back for a toasty-sweet aroma. Toaster Pastry won a Silver medal in the Double Red Ale Category at the 2015 Great American Beer Festival."

[source: 21st-amendment.com]