Brewing a red ale is a lot more challenging than I had ever anticipated when I first decided to make one over a year ago. There's a fine balance to be achieved between light and dark as well as the hues of yellow, orange and red that come through from the malts in order to get the colour just right. Basically its rubbish if it's amber or brown but if it's just right, in that Goldilocks region, when it's a vivid scarlet it looks fantastic.
The red ales of yore tend to rely on a precise dose of roast malt in order to deliver the colour along with an archetypal burnt flavour, however most modern brewers use caramelised malts instead thereby imbibing a sweeter nature. Some heinous individuals even resort to straight up cheating by adding coloured syrup extracts to their brew. I've gone for a hybrid approach adding both roast malt and dark crystal malts, as I'm using a trio of US hop varieties in the kettle as well as dry hopping the finished article in tank to create a rich, zesty ale bursting at the seams with big flavour.
It has taken months to get right but it's worth it. This beer will put an ear to ear grin on your face after every sip. A bit like the dinosaur suit I wore in the brewery for a brief appearance on channel 4's Sunday Brunch show.
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