Dark Red IPA by Six String Brewing Co

This week’s beer is the Dark Red IPA from the Central Coast’s Six String Brewing Co.  My love of a red IPA is well documented (in this blog at least) and this is absolutely one of the best, punchiest red IPA’s out there. 

Six String does a number of quality beers in their standard range.  They also put out a fair few unique brews as well.  And the best bit is they’ve got fairly wide distribution and are relatively easy to track down, at least throughout New South Wales.  The Dark Rep IPA is right up with Capital’s Evil Red Eye IPA in terms of my favourite red IPA’s going around.

The key to a good red IPA is the balance between the IPA hoppiness and the red maltiness.  Although if I’m being honest, I don’t mind terribly much if the balance is tilted slightly toward the hoppiness end of the spectrum.  But with the Dark Red IPA, there is a TON of both. 

The hoppy bite is extremely prominent.  It’s almost to the level of a full-on, kick you in the teeth (in a good way) IPA hoppiness.  But on the flip side, the maltiness is equally as intense.  The roastiness is so rich it almost verges on smokiness.  Playing with such big flavours in a beer can be a recipe for a tall glass of ‘no thanks’.  But Six Strings finds the balance perfectly.  It’s a massive, punchy beer, but it’s still balanced and still delicious.

Six Strings’ slogan is ‘Amplified Ales’, which is an absolutely spot on description of the Dark Red IPA.  Everything about it is dialled up to 11.  But far from being an off-putting, over the top beer, the result is a perfectly balanced hoppy, malty, amplified ale that is one of my absolute favourites.