Red Red Redemption 2

A couple of summers ago, I brewed a beer called Red Red Redemption, named in part as a tribute to one of the greatest videogames of all time, but also as a reference to one of the first beers I ever made. It was maybe the 5th beer I had brewed as a homebrewer and it was certainly the first one I unleashed on an unsuspecting crowd. It was an Amber Ale with a box full of Red Hot candies tossed into the boil. I was pretty proud of it, although I don't recall actually drinking much of it. I brought bottles to a big 4th of July party full of Busch Lite drinkers. To put it politely - my beer didn't find any fans. One person spit it out like a cartoon character that was told something shocking.

Of course, this event did not detur my fledgling brewing hobby, but I learned two major lessons about brewing (one of which trip up even some of the biggest breweries in the world): know your audience, and above all else - the beer actually has to taste good. 

So Red Red Redemption was set to redeem that mistake. It was a big bold Red IPA released right at the 4th of July. It was all-around bigger than that original brew, but the spirit was there. I even added a single, ceremonial Red Hot candy into the boil. The people who tried it seemed to like it. I've been asked by multiple people multiple times since when it's coming back. I never intended to bring it back - I was already redeemed - so I told them something similar would eventually return.

Welp, its namesake got a sequel, so I supposed the beer deserved one too. I kept the spirit the same - same ABV, same IBUs, same color - but I took what I've learned over the past couple of years to make something new. The malt bill is much simpler to let the hops and terps shine. There are more hops - Lotus, and Mosaic, and Callista - one of which is even in salvo form. I also added Blackberry Kush terps to give it a dank edge. I'm super happy with it and I hope you all are too. Here's to hoping it becomes a trilogy.

Cheers!