Green Flash Hop Head Red (-2013)
Editor’s note: If you had the 8.1% abv version marketed since 2014 as a Double Red India Pale Ale, this is the wrong beer page. Please rate under Green Flash Hop Head Red Double IPA (2014 -).
Resinous hop characteristics emerge from an enormous hopping with Columbus, Nugget and Amarillo overtaking the rich caramel malt base. To add luscious hop flavors and enticingly floral hop aromas, we dry-hop the brew with bucket loads of Amarillo hops. Welcome to the world of Red IPA. [In 2011 the recipe was altered to bump the IBU’s from 55 to 70...ABV also increased from 6.4% to 7.0%]
Resinous hop characteristics emerge from an enormous hopping with Columbus, Nugget and Amarillo overtaking the rich caramel malt base. To add luscious hop flavors and enticingly floral hop aromas, we dry-hop the brew with bucket loads of Amarillo hops. Welcome to the world of Red IPA. [In 2011 the recipe was altered to bump the IBU’s from 55 to 70...ABV also increased from 6.4% to 7.0%]
3.7
1411 reviews
San Diego, United States
Community reviews
A- Citrus, tropical fruits, peach, hoppy, bready, malty, caramel.
A- Dark amber color, cloudy liquid, off white head.
T- Bitter, malty, caramel, citrus, bready.
P- Full body, thick texture, average carbonation, bitter finish.
O- This one had to have some age on it, beings it was retired, which I am sure mellowed it out. Poured a thick consistency and overall was not as crazy as I expect from Green Flash.
Poured into Speiglau IPA glass. Opaque reddish copper with a foamy beige head. Head disappears quickly and laces nicely.
Sweet caramel and raisin notes spell of serious maltiness. The hops are not far behind though and lead the charge on first sip. Medium mouthfeel with mild carbonation. A slight bitterness on the finish which is well balanced with the sweetness.
Green Flash never disappoints and I love this one as well. Will need to get my hands on the newer version.
This has a little age on it now, so I’ll seek out a fresher example and review again. However, this is still a great beer.
Tastes fantastic, a very we’ll balanced IPA, with I’m guessing the extra crystal malts really adding to the overall body and balance of this beer. A touch of sweetness, which I think works, rounds this beer of making it very drinkable.
Overall, a great beer.
33 cl lilla Örebro. En riktigt Smak och doftrik humlestark öl som verkligen föll mig i smaken.
Sad to see that this particular brew is being retired, but I’m very glad I got try it. Some of Green Flash’s hoppy brews that I’ve had recently (White IPA and Le Freak) have been deceptive about their aggressiveness when it come to aroma. Not Hop Head Red. It’s true to its name. A big piney smell is the first thing you’ll notice. Mouthwatering juicy grapefruit, sweet caramel, and a bit of booze round out the experience. The taste has a lot of resinous hop bitterness and more subtle flavors of caramel, citrus, and berry. The crisp mouthfeel, dry finish, and big head are spot-on. Red color is lovely, too. Depending on what type of craft beer lover you are, the sharp bitterness will make or break this brew for you. If you are indeed a Hop Head, you need not look further than the title. This is the one for you.
Dark amber color with beautiful large head, looking smooth. The hops don’t take over, of which I was afraid. Interesting smell, a bit of hops, a bit of roasty malt. Bitter, roasty, malty taste. Very complex. Citrus/Grapefruits from the hops, caramel, bread, and much more. Full-bodied and smooth carbonation. A very good one.
Dark amber aroma with a medium to thick beige head. Aroma is heavy malt, hoppy, fruit and caramel. Some spiciness. Taste is medium sweet with medium to heavy bitterness. Texture is creamy, body is medium. Bitter finish.
Flaska från Sue Ellen. Rödbrun med stort skum. Kådig doft... Kådig maltig smarrig smak. Bra!
Aroma: Some sweetness, and then lots of citric and floral hop smells. Yummy.
Appearance: A red clear beer with hints of brown, an off-white head leaving lacing.
Taste: An initial toffee sweetness, then grape-fruit and lemon, pine resin, fresh grass. and the taste stays, and goes on.
Palate: Medium low carbonation, a good dry feeling.
Overall: If the color wasn’t red it could have been a DIPA for my behalf.
Note: Bottle at de Klomp. Reviewed 2010-07-10.
Transfer from BA review on 2-24-13-
Poured from bottle into pint glass
Appearance – Pours a very nice deep-deep amber bordering reddish-brown color with a big billowy off white head. The head has great retention, but fades slowly to give way to some nice lacing.
Smell – A good dose of citrus hop aroma is the most pertinent. Grapefruit and a bit of lemon with an ever so light pine hop aroma are mixed in with a bready malt smell.
Taste – A roasty bready malt flavor mixed heavily with some strong grapefruit flavors that are in the forefront of the taste. These flavors last the whole of the flavor. Toward the middle, the other hop flavors present in the nose become present in the taste. The lighter tastes of lemon and pine develop, with a more lemon flavor in the middle and a lighter pine flavor toward the end. Overall it is a more bitter taste throughout and a bitter flavor is left to sit on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – A nice creamy body with a slightly lower than average carbonation level really allows for the hop tastes to penetrate the tongue.
Overall – The mouthfeel, look, and smell are all quite nice, but the very bitter aftertaste it leaves at the end is not the most pleasant. The taste starts very nice, but just doesn’t know when to quite. Overall though it is a nice beer and one to try.
0,355 pullo @ One pint pub. Kirkas punertavan kastanjanruskea. Mämmiä tuoksussa, paahteista mallasta. Maussa mallasta, joku jännä aromi jota en osaa nimetä. Lopussa hitunen kitkerää makua kitalaessa.
.355l bottle @ One pint Pub Pours murky amber with low head. Aroma is bread, dark malts, hops and some syrup. Flavor is hops, g-rape, dark malts, citrus fruits, rye bread, burned malts. Nietsche beer!
Bottle. Pours red with thin white head that lingers. Mild carbonation and hop aroma. Nice balance of malt and hop profile.
@ Nedre Mölla 8/8-14. Bottle from Kihoskh, Copenhagen. Aroma: Hoppy, grapefruit, caramel, pine needles. Taste: Dito + sweetness. Body is medium, the finish is dry and bitter with notes of pine needles, caramel and hops.
0.33 bottle, served in snifter. Pours with generous head, deep caramel brown, ruby color. Aroma is not too intensive, mostly floral, caramel, toast and malty. After shaking its definitely malty. Bitterness is medium, hoppiness is very clear and dominant in the end. There is a hint of spiciness as well and caramel, matliness at first. Finish is reasonably long with clear bitterness. However, its probably too bitter for an amber ale, but its very drinkable despite having 7 abv. Its enjoyable one, but Ive had better of this kind.
Aroma of hops and citrus, nice spice. Taste is citrus, hoppy, bitter, spicy, bready.
Unclear reddish ruby appearance, medium head. Hoppy aroma with pronounced citrus notes, malty and spicy. Medium bodied, satisfying. Very good Red IPA style.
Draft. Pours cloudy brown with small tan head. Nose is caramel. Taste is hoppy with some liquorice.
Bottle from world beers. Pours a dark amber. Thick white head. Scent its all malt and a little hops and caramel Taste is a little more hoppy. Pretty good beer.
Bottle 355 ml at Delirium Hoppy Loft, Bruxelles. Pours hazy amber with small off-white head. Hoppy citrus aroma. Malty caramel and hoppy bitter flavor. Medium bodied. Nice one.
Bottle, neat. Poured into a snifter, nice dark red / brown color. Aroma is citrus and grapefruit with some spice. Taste is good, mild bitterness but unexpectedly dry. Wish the malt sweetness would have shown more. OK.
Bottle. Not an amber ale at all. This tastes all rye pa. Gets mild the more you drink it. Pretty well balanced.
-- rated with beerbasher/winphone
Solid malty and hop flavor. Good balance. A little dry. Good but doesn’t quite fit my hop profile preference. Would still drink this one anytime.
On first glance and smell its more Red IPA (as advertised) than amber (Ratebeer’s diktat off-kilter again!). Aroma is sweet-caramel malt, floral with a hint of orange (hops have subsided). Smell is a beautiful and enticing blend. Palate is consistent and the medium body carries throughout. Taste is more-sweet malt, some pine and a hint of grapefruit, orange. There’s a rising herbal note that pervades the palate long after swallowing. This is a very good Red IPA. If it was fresh I am sure it would be outstanding.
Bona cervesa, equilibrada i gustosa.
Buena cerveza, equilibrada y sabrosa.
Pouring a deep amber with a fluffy off white head, this red IPA shoes citrus notes and an earthy taste. Not a big fan, but I think I killed my taste buds with a trip to the Holgate Brewhouse yesterday.
0.355l bottle. Hazy reddish dark orange body, off-white head. Huge toast and caramel notes in the aroma escorted with roasted malts and citrusy hops. Taste of caramel, citrusy, piny hops and some roastyness. The finish is really bitter. You can’t tell it’s 7% ABV. Very flavorful and easy to drink. Awesome beer.
Mild aroma, amber wth yellow cap. IPA bitterness mixed with roasted caramel and some sourness in good proportion.
Botella de 35,5 cl, adquirida en Aeon Mall Nagoya Dome Mae en Nagoya, Japon. Color ambar. Sabor a malta, lupulo, caramelo, resinoso.
Bottle at home. The colour is cloudy, deep reddish brown with a medium, creamy, beige head. Aroma of berries, sweet malt, biscuit, dried fruit, harpix, fruity hop cones and some caramel. More grassy hops and harpix in the flavour, and salt licorice, grass, leather, some ammonia and sweet berries in the background. A little dry in the end. Has a slick mouth feel, and a medium to heavy bitterness that lasts. A rich ale, but feels a bit unbalanced with a all the hops.