Baden Baden Red Ale, essa incógnita!

Confrades, uma dúvida: a Baden Baden Red Ale está cadastrada aqui no fórum como Barley Wine e a Baden a classifica simplesmente como Double Red. Embora ela não seja uma Irish Red Ale, também não acho a classificação de barley wine correta. Essa cerveja não tem aquele perfil licoroso que esse estilo normalmente tem, não tem aquela base ultra-maltada que remete a caramelo, tampouco o amadeirado tão típico do estilo, fora que o lúpulo é bastante proeminente, tanto no aroma quanto no paladar. Uma vez perguntei isso ao confrade Marcussi, que me disse que era provável que essa cerveja fosse uma Imperial/Double Red Ale, mas no Beer Advocate não achei esse estilo. Será que alguém pode dar uma luz?

Vou tentar para explicar com meu português ruim. Neste momento, o estilo "Imperial/Double Red Ale" não é recohecido pelo BJCP, provavelmente o porquê que o estilo não existe no BeerAdvocate, Brejas, ou RateBeer. Talvez no futuro....

Eu noto que o marketing do routlo da Baden Baden Red Ale é differente. No passado, o marketing no rotulo disse nada. Agora é "cerveja puro malte forte escura tipo double red".

Thanks for the enlightenment, Jonathan! When answering one of my posts, you can write in english and I'll translate for our comrades, no sweat!

I've read your review of it in beer advocate and I understand you fancy it, but do you really think this beer's a barley wine?

I've also noticed the marketing change Baden Baden did on the label, I think it's a clue to the correct style of this beer: Double Red Ale!

One last question: even though Double Red is not yet a official style according to BJCP, there's a lot of styles in Beer Advocate that BJCP still haven't legitimated, such as Belgian IPA, Quadrupel, American pumpkin ale, and so on, why is that?

Thanks again, buddy!

Hey Milu,

The "Imperial/Double Red Ale" category is a relatively recent creation and to me shares some similarities with the Barleywine and Strong Ale categories, but if I were to choose at the moment, I see BB Red as more of a Strong Ale. The Strong Ale category is like a "catch all" to beers over 7% ABV that don't exactly fit under the guidelines of traditonal styles. The best American example to this is the famous Arrogant Bastard Ale (at 7.2% ABV); it could be an amber ale, it could be an IPA, but that beer doesn't fit neatly into either category, so it's accepted as a Strong Ale.

I think that if the "Imperial/Double Red Ale" category were more widespread, then I think we would see such style implemented on BeerAdvocate/Brejas/RateBeer. It could happen in the near future; the "Black IPA/Cascadian Dark Ale/India Dark Ale" (whatever you want to call it) recently became a recognized style after it became popularized. As of 20 years ago, there was no such thing as an "Imperial/Double IPA", but as it became popular 10 years ago, such style became recognized.

I think the reason why we see "Pumpkin Ale" and "Quadruppel" on BeerAdvocate is that those styles have accepted guidelines (at least in the US), even if they're not official styles. In my opinion, there are still a lot of questions up in the air to what makes a Double Red; there are no concrete guidelines yet. Many of the Double Red's in the US are that in name only; the famous Nugget Nectar calls itself an Imperial Amber, but most consumers see it as either an IPA or a "regular" amber ale. More recently, an American brewer renamed and remarketed one of its beers; it used to be called Gordon and was marketed as a Double IPA, but the thread of a lawsuit changed its name to G'Knight, and now it's marketed as an Imperial Red Ale, even though the beer itself is the same!

I hope that I answered your questions Milu. And yes, I do have a bottle of Baden Baden Red Ale in my house, so now I'll be more interested in re-tasting it

Jonathan, thanks a bunch for your answer, it solved a lot of my doubts corcerning beer styles, specially those that are not found in BJCP. Now that you mentioned it, perhaps Baden Baden Red Ale is actually best described as strong ale, since it doesn't quite fit any other style precisely. When you taste it again, share with us your impressions on it! Thanks again and cheers!

Milu, além do BJCP, tem um guia bem utilizado que é o do Brewers Association. Este é um pouco mais abrangente, conta com uma porrada de estilo relativamente novos, inclusive com a classificação "Imperial/Double Red Ale". Segue uma colinha de lá:

Imperial or Double Red Ale
Imperial or Double Red Ales have intense hop bitterness, flavor and aroma. Alcohol content is also very high and of notable
character. They range from deep amber to dark copper in color and may exhibit a small amount of chill haze at cold temperatures
The style may use any variety of hops. Though the hop character is intense it’s balanced with complex alcohol flavors, moderate to
high fruity esters and medium to high caramel malt character. Imperial or Double Red Ales have a full body. Diacetyl should not be
perceived.