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Crack One Open: Brooklyn Defender Red IPA.
(Marc Bona, cleveland.com)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- This week's pick: Brooklyn Defender, a Red India Pale Ale from Brooklyn Brewery in Brooklyn, New York. This whiskey-colored ale leans piney in flavor with a bit of maltiness on the finish. Those malts that emerge - albeit in a subtle way - set this apart from overly bitter IPAs on the market.
It is 6.7 percent alcohol. Its malts profile: British Pale, Carared, Crystal, Roasted Barley and Melanoidin. Hops are Pilgrim - which you don't hear about too often - Willamette, Cascade, Mosaic and Amarillo.
Brooklyn Brewery touts this as the official beer of the New York Comic Con. It is a year-round offering.
The brewery had fun with this description: "Who is this masked hero? The Defender emerged in an era when gloomy walls and bland beer held our city in a stranglehold. Slowly, murals began to brighten the landscape and flavorful beer flooded the taps. Today the city is alive with fiery art and delicious beer. The Defender maintains constant vigilance to battle back the blandness lurking around the edges. Ours is a world of light and fury and song. This is its Defender."
Here's some info on the brewery from awhile ago:
Label: Red, white, black and gray, it shows a modern-day superhero racing along in ... Michael Jordan shoes?
Why hoist one: Joe Carter, who spent six of his 16 years in the bigs with Cleveland, was born March 7, 1960.
Price: $9 for a six-pack of 12-ounce bottles.
Marc Bona reviews and writes about beer for cleveland.com. He is on Twitter - @mbona30. His stories can be found at cleveland.com/drinks. Have a beer for him to review? Email him.