Papago El Diablo Rojo

Formerly brewed at Sonoran Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Phoenix, Arizona USA

Clear dark amber body with a beige head that leaves nice lacing. Aroma is medium sweet, grapefruit, caramel, some alcohol. Taste is medium sweet, grapefruit/pine, some herbal, light caramel. Smooth light-medium body. Unbalanced, in a manner that I cannot fully embrace.

What you’d call a green aroma, very citric yet full of tree bark and pine. The pour is orange to brown, the head white and receding to cover. Generous bready, toasty, biscuity toffee malts. Bittersweet balance, the fullest body I’ve seen from Papago and the carbonation to fit unlike the wheatwine. An active mouthfeel I’d say. Long citrus finish with a earthy tang, but thankfully nothing vegetal. Good stuff, clean, hoppy yet with enough supporting malts to be coherent.

(Draft: 2005 Stone 9th Anniversary Festival in Escondido, CA) Sweet malt and lots of grapefruit and hops in the nose. Wow, very aromatic and nicely balanced. The sweet and caramely malt provides a nice base and is in balance initially with the hoppy and grapefruit flavor, but the hops dominates the finish. Medium-full body, sweet on the palate, but with all the hops, it’s never sticky and finishes with a fair crispness. Dark amber in color, but the fairly hazy appearance surprises me. Small off-white head settles to a ring, but leaves some patchy lacing. A very nice beer, but I really love "double reds", and this one fell short of the lofty standards set by the elite in this class. Nevertheless, it’s my second favorite beer of the festival.

Deep chestnut red-brown. Fruity, west coast hop aroma. A rather tart and somewhat immature apa flavor with strong tannic character. Long bitter finish. Didn’t compare favorably with some of the other fine APA/AIPA’s that I had tonight. On tap at Papago.

Draught @ Papago

The beer fresh from the tap to my eager hands and face pours a somewhat hazy reddish-amber color with a portly semi-creamy light tan head that slowly dissipates leaving a silky sheet of lace to obscure the glass. Nose has a citrus like crispness, clean and fresh, hints of hops with a nice sweet malt aroma to back it up; start is slightly sweet with a nice grain profile, the top moderate in feel. Finish has a brisk acidic bite and the hops dynamic in their spiciness, and the 8.2 percent ABV makes itself known with a nice tummy warming feel, quite dry with a long lasting aftertaste, a really tasty brew tis true. Ron Kloth is a Master Brewer and a true “Beer Lovers Beer Lover”, and I am proud to say a good friend of mine, geez could I be a bit biased about Papago Beers and all the magnificent people who work there, and “Hell Yeah” frequent the establishment? Lol

Aromas of pine trees and floral arangements. Dark red body with disipating head and decent lacing. Had a good citrus hop flavor like an IPA. Good stuff.

Perhaps a little too dark to be a Double IPA, but this definitely fits the super hoppy bill.

This beer is a lightly hazy deep amber color, it has a frothy thin pale head atop it. The aroma is reminiscent of grapefruit, orange, and pine in the finish. The taste is sweet and fruity up front, with notes of candied orange peel, grapefruit, and tangerines. The finish moves from a strong herbal/ pine note to a solid bitterness that slowly fades with and astringent herbal character. This is quite well balanced between competing sweet caramalized malt notes and the hop notes that change between citrus domined, then herbal pine notes, and of course a solid bitterness. The hops clearly dominate this beer, and quite tasty, and it quite enjoyable.

09.29.05 GABF Clear, reddish copper with a lingering white film. Aroma is strongly resinous, piney, and a touch of earth/dirt/cardboard. Verging on sweet, it’s reminding me of some Stone goodies. Big hop assault with pine, candle shop, detergent; below all that is a dry cracker maltiness that fails to really keep up with the show. Feels somewhat thick despite it’s dry and bitter finish. Certainly would lead me to try other Papago brews.