Catskill’s Eye of Newt is being evaluated as a Flanders Red (2015 BJCP Category 23B). One of the difficulties in this style is displacing the sour, acetic acid character without dominating the other attributes in the beer.
Eye of Newt opens with a pleasant aroma that’s a mixture of acetic acid, caramel, toast, and restrained prune. Hops are nowhere to be found as per the style. It’s a light brown beer that’s quite hazy. Despite the constant rising bubbles in the beer no head ever formed.
The flavor is dichotomous with sweet malt upfront consisting of molasses, caramel, and a bit of bread but is rapidly overtaken by intense acetic acid. Although not to be outdone, the malt attempts to win the balance race only to leave the drinker with a semi-sweet finish but with prickly acetic acid in the aftertaste. There’s a light amount of soy sauce present as it warms. Bitterness is low with no hop flavor to speak of which is appropriate.
Flander’s Reds are a difficult style to crack and numerous iterations are usually required. As this was a first version from the brewery it’s a bit rough around the edges and doesn’t have the refinement and ultimately lacks the balance between the malt, fruit, and acetic acid of world class examples.