Saturday, April 5, 2014

Deschutes Red Chair NWPA Review



Name: Deschutes Red Chair NWPA
Style: American Pale Ale
ABV: 6.2%

It's time to look at what I consider to be Deschutes Brewing's most popular Spring Seasonal offering: Red Chair NWPA, which is classified as an American Pale Ale. NWPA is an acronym for Northwest Pale Ale, but I'll be sticking with NWPA because it's easier to type.

I remember having Red Chair NWPA on tap a couple years ago down in Cannon Falls, MN after touring the Cannon River Winery, who by the way make fantastic wines. This is my first time having it in a bottle so let's see how this holds up.

Red Chair NWPA pours a hazy orange color with a thin soapy head, which has pretty good retention. The visible carbonation is quite high and it's leaves behind some pretty good lacing!

The nose is quite citrus hop forward with pale malts, light toffee mild floral hops and yeasts. If it weren't for the yeasty aspect, I would say this smells an awful lot like a traditional West Coast-style IPA.

With the flavor, I'm picking up on some pungent citrus hop notes, toffee, yeasts, and pale malts. The aftertaste is a bittersweet citra-hop flavor. The palate with this one is quite heavy body and moderately carbonated.

When you consider everything: The aroma, flavor and even the palate; It's pretty much got one foot already inside the West Coast IPA territory, with the other being in American Pale Ale. With that said, Red Chair NWPA is still a very good beer that's worth checking out.

Deschutes Red Chair NWPA - 8.5/10

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