Saturday, March 14, 2009

Magic Hat Brewing Co.: Roxy Rolles

Back to the first great brewery I found when I came east. As I've already mentioned, I'm a big fan of their flagship #9 brew: it's got a snappy flavor and is really drinkable. But sometimes you're in the mood to crank up the flavor to something a bit stronger. Apparently Magic Hat read my mind, because Roxy Rolles, their "hoppy amber ale," does just that.

Like it's not-quite-pale counterpart, Roxy Rolles boasts a light body, faint citrus flavors, and a lot of carbonation. But the malts and hops have been cranked up on this one, so that there's a lot more flavor to go around. Their marketing it as an amber is a bit dubious--it looks like a light amber ale, but it isn't nearly as malty as your standard amber ale. Especially behind the substantial hops, the malt flavors are pretty well hidden. They come through just enough so that you taste a faint roasted sweetness on the back of your tongue, which actually compliments the fruit flavors quite nicely. The light malt-high hops combo also leaves you with a rather pleasant aftertaste of a clean hop bitterness on the edges of your tongue and a lingering sweetness in the middle.

I have to say, I'm a bit surprised that Magic Hat doesn't push this as their flagship instead of #9. Granted, the two brews bear more similarities than differences, so only people with a bad beer habit are really going to prefer one to the other. But in my estimation, Magic Hat has really scored a ringer here. Pick one up and check it out.

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