Saturday saw the release of yet another small-batch beer from local brewery Flying Bison. Over the course of the last few years, they’ve really stepped up their production of single-batch experimental beers- from collaborations with High Falls, to cask-conditioned beers tapped at Mr. Goodbar’s Friday cask events, I’ve been pretty impressed with the ones I’ve had. Imperial-ized beers are certainly all the rage in the craft beer industry right now, so it was not surprising that FB tackled one as well, but which of their normal production beers would get the treatment? Their Aviator Red ale got the call, and it scales up very well indeed.

A short background: Originally, only one style of beer had an ‘imperial’ substyle, and that was stout. Historically, this came about when British stouts were being exported to the Russian court. They were brewed a little stronger, to better weather the journey, and as well because the Russians liked ‘em that way. Because Imperial Stouts are stronger than other stouts, when American brewers started tweaking traditional styles, they re-applied the adjective Imperial to any style brewed stronger than guideline. In recent years, many beer styles have had the imperial treatment, from wheat beers to pilsners.

Now, if your going to bump up the alcohol content of a beer, your going to have to add more malt, and so, you’re really not going to have the exact same beer only stronger. When you add more fermentable sugars, you’ll inevitably have more residual unfermented sugars too, leading to a fuller-bodied beer and oftentimes a somewhat sweeter beer. Certainly, this describes the Imperial Red, which I believe is going by the name ‘Royalty Red’. It pours out a lovely dark copper with reds deep in the liquid, perfectly clear underneath a tight, slightly-off-white foam head with but modest staying power & lacing qualities. Aromatically, you are greeted with very little, but flowery hop aroma; rather, sweet & crystal malt odors predominate, though I feel I detect a hint of buttery diacetyl. The first flavor to hit your tongue is malt with firm caramelized flavors which expand in the center, leading to a nice balance of malt and hop bitterness and slight alcohol warming at the finish, all of which linger lightly. It has a firm body with medium carbonation, the overall mouthful is ever so slightly thick. I think this compares very well to the standard Aviator Red: I can taste it in there, but the hops presence is much reduced and the sweetness amplified. If I didn’t know it was an Imperial Red, I might have classified it as a Marzen, though that hint of butter and the delayed finish gives it away as an ale. I don’t know the exact abv, but it’s probably in the 7-8% range by flavor.

If you were at the Third Anniversary Mr. Goodbar Goodbeer club, you got a coupon redeemable for one 12oz bottle of the beer. When you go down to the brewery to collect, be sure you get the special edition bottle, with label designed by Dan Wanglin of [re]noun creative. The labels are hand numbered and signed, making them a real collector’s item, and rebrand the beer as the Impossibly Rare Imperial Red Ale, referring to this special edition of a single batch. The label is pictured in the photo above; additional bottles (to be had for $4.00 apiece) will have the standard Aviator Red label (but should be separable by some kind of marking on the cap). You can also purchase it in a growler, but supplies are definitely limited, so act now!