New Knoxville Red Zone IPA

Hoppy, but not overly so. Pleasantly dry, clean, crisp, with a wonderful hop aroma.

draught. Red Zone is a murky copper with a fine, dense white head. Aroma is quite peppery with a bit of vinegar and faint malt. This is definitely hoppy. It’s biting and piny up front, a bit chalky; then fades to a little more tree bark. There is plenty of sour or acidic fruit flavor to this. The malts are just a bit thin to make a great balance, but this is quaffable enough.

Draught (at Barley’s, of course). Pours red-gold with an off-white head that, while small, laced pretty well. The aroma is very smoothly hoppy with biscuity notes. The flavor is also fresh hops, reminiscent of sour apple and strawberry, with general bitterness. There is a touch of light malty sweetness in the background. I like it.

On draught at Barley’s. This brew is the result of a homebrew competition held by Barley’s in Knoxville. Brewed by New Knoxville, under the supervision of the winning homebrewer usining his recipe. Smallish white head over a slightly hazy copper colored body. Good hop aroma. The flavor starts bitter and the hop bittereness goes all the way through to the finish. It could use a bit more malt in the middle to balance things out, but overall is a nicely done IPA. Please ask for this if you are at Barley’s in Knoxville. If this little experiment works out, they are considering adding brewing equipment of their own and offering in house brewed beers as part of their lineup on a regular basis.

Reddish copper, no head to speak of. Really fresh hop aroma, with a floral, peppery note. Big hops up front, with flavors of pine resin and rye, maybe? Nice solid malt base to balance it out. Very tasty.