T-shirt season has arrived at last, and with it the eagerness to trade belly-warming barleywines for more sprightly sippers: namely hoppy India pale ales, whose floral flavors and aromas recall lush spring blooms. Sure, burly, nap-inducing IPAs like Dogfish Head's 120 Minute or Russian River's Pliny the Elder garner megawatt attention, but IPAs need not be monstrously potent to be monstrously delicious.This principle is fully understood by Bend, Oregon's decades-old Deschutes Brewery. Its newest spring-summer seasonal, the Red Chair IPA (available in draft or 22-ounce bottles), demonstrates the flavorful results of restraint. Named after a favorite lift at Oregon ski resort Mount Bachelor, the Red Chair pours radiant copper, releasing a heady perfume of citrus, black tea and fresh baked biscuits.
Still, Red's no gnarly mouth-puckerer.
Since the hops were added late in the brewing process, their fierce astringency is muffled, leaving Red a balanced, full-bodied easy drinker that ends with a gently sweet kick. And the ale's surprisingly low (well, by today's bigger-better-more! IPA standards) bitterness rating (55 IBUs) and alcohol percentage (6.4 percent) make it an ideal session beer -- that is, we can sip several pints and still properly enunciate our consonants while operating heavy machinery.
Got a favorite spring brew? Spill the goods in the comments.
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