The first time I laid eyes on Ballast Point's Red Velvet Nitro Oatmeal Stout, I experienced some mixed feelings. My first thought was Ballast Point's transition into a gimmick brewery was now complete. This was particularly disappointing to me because I have enjoyed so many of their beers. In a previous blog, I discussed my love of Grapefruit Sculpin, Victory at Sea, Habanero Sculpin and Calm Before the Storm. I think all of those beers are creative, fun and most importantly taste great. I also think Grunion Pale Ale is one of the better pale ales on the market. If you have not had it, I recommend trying it the next time you see it. My thoughts on Ballast Point took a turn for the worse last February when Ballast Point released Watermelon Dorado, Mango Even Keel and Pineapple Sculpin. Those three beers ranged from mediocre to terrible. They also seemed to open the flood gates for more ridiculous offerings like Cinnamon Raisin Commodore, which is terrible, and Thai Chili Wahoo, which tastes way too artificial. At this point, I honestly look at all new offerings from Ballast Point with mixed feelings. On one hand, I want them to return to the glory days of when I tried Grapefruit Sculpin, Habanero Sculpin and Victory at Sea for the first time. I want to be absolutely blown away by a brewery willing to push the envelope of creativity. On the other hand, I feel like now they are simply flavoring beer just because they can and not because it works. I think that is disappointing, lazy and uninspired. So when I picked up Red Velvet, which is a golden oatmeal stout that uses beets for coloring, I admit I could see the creative potential of what they were trying to do. I even thought the beer would have looked cool in my Valentine's Day blog if I decided to go that route. Even with that optimism, I just could not shake the thought that this beer was going to disappoint like so many of their other recent offerings.
Whether Red Velvet was going to be good or not was irrelevant as I dumped it into my stout glass. I love pouring nitro beers and watching them settle. The fact that this one was a reddish pink in color made it an even more enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, the pour was the last thrill this beer provided. The aroma was interesting, it had some earthy chocolate notes, with some vanilla sweetness which I am guessing is supposed to be frosting. There is a hint of cherry in the aroma as well. My first sip brought some mixed results. The chocolate is there along with an earthy spice. There is also a hint of vanilla and cherry as well. This might sound good but it really isn't. None of the flavors work well together. The fact that it is watered down and thin tries to hide this but it does not work. To make things worse, there seems to vegetal note in the finish as well which does not do it any favors either. The further I got into the glass the more I could see the potential of what they are trying to do. Some of the flavors are quite nice, they just needed to work better with everything going on here. I usually sip a stout slowly to allow it to warm up but I did not see taking my time with this one doing it any favors.
I am disappointed to see another Ballast Point not live up to its potential. Clearly they were more worried about putting out a nitro stout with a cool color than one with a good flavor. I wish I could say this beer has taught me to stay away from Ballast Point but it has not. I am still going to keep trying their new beers hoping to find the one that brings me back to my glory days with the brewery. I know its sad but sometimes drinking bad beer comes with what I do here.
Overall I would rate Ballast Point Red Velvet a 2/5. It is not a terrible beer but aside from its color there is nothing worth remembering here.
Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly exceptional
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Thanks for reading. Sláinte!
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