Like ice beer and white zinfandel before it, red beer is the newest fad to hit the lips.
Red, it seems, is popping up everywhere. Billboards advertise Red Dog beer from Miller Brewing Co. and the glaring red eyes of “Red Wolf,” new from Anheuser-Busch.
Bars across the country sell Elephant Red, George Killian’s Red, Elk Mountain Red, Henry Weinhard’s Boar’s Head Red Ale, Bass Ale, Redhook, St. Rogue Red and many others.
What’s going on here?
“It’s a different look and a different taste, and the red phenomenon is something beer drinkers really seem attracted to,” said Ron Richards, spokesman for Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Co., which has two red beers on the market: Leinenkugel Red and Miller Reserve Amber Ale.
“What we found is that in a social setting, such as a bar, people like a selection,” Richards said. “We’re responding to what our beer drinkers want.”
So what do they want? Just what is red beer?
It’s an invention of the big beer companies. It’s certainly not a category that has existed until recently. There is something called rot, which is a rare, aged red German beer, but nothing about its making or style comes near the red beers sold now. Many classic beer styles are amber or reddish brown, but few of the new brews lay claim to such heritage.
Half the time what’s being sold says red on the label, but that’s not what’s in the bottle.
Red Dog, for example, is a golden lager. Only the bulldog on the label is red.
There are beers, such as George Killian’s Irish Red and St. Rogue Red Ale, which are truly red, or at least a reddish brown. One is a lager, the other an ale.
Red beers are brewed in much the same way as Coors or Bud but with roasted barley to give them a red color, a different flavor and more weight. The style is called lager or pilsner.
A few of the big breweries are also making “amber” ales that are red in color. Amber ales have been around a long time, but formerly were the province of microbrewers.
What’s being labeled as red is “basically an imitation of amber ale,” said David Turner, who runs the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Beer of the Month Club.
“Some of them aren’t bad,” Turner said of the mass-produced beers. “But many of those red beers are like light beer with red food coloring.”
At the heart of the new beer fad is a good, old-fashioned competition between the giant U.S. breweries and the little upstart craft or microbrewers, said William Brand, publisher of What’s On Tap, a California-based beer newsletter.
“The microbrewers have forced the big guys to do what the auto industry faced 50 years ago,” Brand said. “They are being made to wake up to the fact that we don’t all want to drive black Fords anymore.” Or drink only light, thin lager beers in a can.
For years, the American beer industry has chugged along using its version of the Model T, the light, golden lager bottled and sold with some variation under the names Miller, Budweiser, Pabst, Michelob, Stroh’s Coors and others now long gone.
In the last five years, imports and a rebirth of American local craft brewers, who have made fresh, perishable, high-quality beer, have invaded the monopoly of the big brewers.
The numbers tell some of the story.
Five years ago there were about 75 microbrewers in the country. In 1994, the number reached almost 400. Five years ago, the microbrewers brewed less than 100,000 barrels of beer. By the latest statistics, they brewed about 1 million barrels.
For example, Boston-based Samuel Adams, which gets most of the credit for cutting new roads for the microbrew industry, has grown so rapidly that it had to contract some of its brewing to meet store and supermarket demands nationwide.
Still, the giant breweries topped 195 million barrels in 1994.
Richards estimates that “specialty” beers–any beer other than the traditional brews–account for 2 to 3 percent of the market. Enough, said Brand, to make the big brewers act to market something different.
Like Ford, the breweries had a better idea.
From market research emerged red beer, Richards said. Test marketing of many brands began about three years ago, and now more and more labels are finding their way to the shelf.
With the reds comes the first head-to-head contest in a David and Goliath matchup.
The big brewers have the money to spend and a captive audience of millions of loyal beer drinkers.
The microbrewers have the appeal of variety, freshness and quality.
The craft brewers, as Samuel Adams showed, also are signaling that they know what they are doing in the big pond.
And, as the red-beer war heats up, Goliath has a few nice words for David.
“What’s great about these guys (the microbrewers) is that they have raised the awareness of beer as a quality beverage,” Miller’s Richards said, “and no one can complain about that. Least of all us.”
What do reds red taste like?
Here’s a rundown on some of the reds available.
–Leinenkugel Red: Owned by Miller, but with legitimate claims to being a family-run brewery. This is one of the better red lagers from the big houses. It’s medium-weight, has a reasonably good head, a light, hoppy, lager scent to it. In the mouth it is fairly rich and full and somewhat fruity.
–Red Wolf Lager: By Anheuser-Busch. Nothing compelling about it. It’s an odd, dark brown color. A flat, uninteresting, watery beer. No head to speak of, over-toasted barley in the mouth. No aftertaste.
–Elk Mountain Amber Ale. Also from Anheuser-Busch. It’s hard to believe the company that turned out this, the best of the ones from the big houses I tasted, also gave us Red Wolf. Full, rich, a pleasant toasty scent; a good, solid head that left a nice lacy residue on the sides of the glass minutes after pouring. It is an appealing orange-brown liquid. It’s also toasty with that beef-bouillon mouth feel and long, lingering finish.
–Henry Weinhard’s Boar’s Head Red Lager: From the G. Heileman Brewing Co. Boar’s Head is a lager and, as such, is lighter and maltier than an ale and slightly sweet. The beer has a terrific head: It stayed high on the side of the glass longer than the others. The scent is of rose petals and tropical fragrances. It is a combination of sweetness and lightly toasted barley.
–George Killian’s Irish Red Lager. From the Adolph Coors Co. It gets credit for being around long before the marketing geniuses came up with red beer. It doesn’t stand up too well to today’s competition. Close your eyes and you can taste that light, Rocky Mountain freshness of Coors, with roasted barley color. If you like them light and uncomplicated, this is your ticket.
–St. Rogue’s Red Ale. From the Seattle microbrewery of the same name. This is a great, full amber ale with balance and depth, a good, solid head and long, lingering finish. May need to hunt a little for it, but it’s well worth it.
Regional “red” brews worth seeking out are Legacy Red Ale from Chicago Brewing Co.; Berghoff Famous Red Ale, made in Monroe, Wis.; and Old Detroit Red Lager, brewed at the Frankenmuth (Mich.) Brewery.
