Beer – #941 – Ballast Point – Red Velvet (Nitro)
A side trip to Hopscotch beer company meant I left with a couple of beers that I’ve been looking for, and a couple that I haven’t bit had to have. This one the Ballast Point NITRO Red Velvet. Needy.
But the similarities don’t end there
The small bottle, 12fl oz, or about 335 ml in modern money, of something that is 33IBU, around the 165 calories a serve in this, a bottle that has beer of 5.5% ABV. This is a 2.5 standard drink equivalent in NZ
Brewed by Ballast Point Brewing Company (Constellation) styled as a Sweet Stout and they do that in San Diego, California USA
Impossibly reddish in color (due to the beets) with nitro cascade fading into a pink cap of stable foam, great clarity.
Smooth like Velvet…
Seeing the beer in the glass shows the obvious resemblance to a slice of red velvet cake (red cake on the bottom topped with a layer of creamy white frosting).
But the similarities don’t end there. The aroma is dominated by chocolate with earthy notes of beets and subtle wafts of roast coco.
The flavor is similar to the aroma but with faint roast and hop bitterness coming in at the end balance it out, not cloying or overly sweet.
The mouthfeel is medium and the finish is luxuriously smooth. It’s dessert served in a pint glass!
So, What could possibly go wrong?
That quick chocolaty on opening, milky.
Pour is red, like weak blackcurrant juice, and it looks alarmingly flat and under carbonated but a thin head struggles up, and seems to be hanging on in there, barely though.
I’ve had red beer before, so the colour is not off putting .
Aroma in the glass is of chocolate and milky sweetness. It’s not altogether unpleasant.
It’s alarmingly under carbonated, Does not cascade in the glass, and almost flat. However it looks really nice as a colour, just not the pour I expected, which might have been too gentle, who knows, I’m not an expert..
Aroma is nice but the taste is thin, almost weak, and under performs, disappointing. Which means after weeks of not finding this I found it only to be let down by a bit of a duff bottle, a duff put, or bad luck, or I’ve actually got the beer they made and expected too much.
But I’ve seen pictures and I didn’t any of that stuff. So I’m left to rate what I have in front of me which is, to labour the point, alarmingly disappointing in mouthfeel, and looks, and aroma alone are not enough to save this tragedy.
My imagination has with with a much fuller mouthfeel that it is actually delivering, there is enough of a hint that this could be quite a nice glass. Despite the tragedy unfolding I’m not going to pour this away, I spent a lot of time looking for it, and I’m darn well going to hate every mouthful if I want to.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 7 of its things from the thing. Generous, but this looks nice, and has a great aroma, it is however flat and that does nothing for the mouthfeel or delivery of any other flavour or notes that might have been on the brewers mind. However it ends up drinking a bit thin with no hope at all for any flavours in the beer to shine.
The double dip review
- Where did I get it? Hopscotch in Mt Eden.
- Am I enjoying it? No, but I wish I was
- Would I have another? I would if there was one with more gas in it.
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? Not like this, it’s a real struggle to enjoy, and I solider on because it took me so long to find. I’d avoid trying to show this off the friends.
Music for this: ” Pixx ” with ” The Age of Anxiety ” on Spotify
SWEET STOUT
Dark brown to black in colour. Sweet stouts come in three main varieties – milk stout, oatmeal stout, and foreign stout. Milk stouts are made with the addition of lactose, and are sweet, low-alcohol brews. Oatmeal lends a smooth fullness of body to stouts, while foreign stouts are stronger (6.5-8% abv) and have a sweet malt profile and high esters. All of the sweet stouts are noted for their restrained roastiness in comparison with other stouts, and low hop levels.
A life just as ordinary 