Action Figures & Their Beers - Let's hit the beach!

by Beedo Sookcool
on 2012-08-13, 12:29:44

BACK BEACH

Summer's drawing to a close, and so is the Red Rock Brewery mini-series, so we're celebrating by going to the beach. Red Rock's Back Beach is their “light golden ale with a subtle hop aroma.” Named after a stretch of coastline at Teignmouth (the town where the brewery is located), this 3.8% ABV ale is ever-so-slightly cloudy, and has a rich beery aroma with a tang of citrus. And it tastes almost exactly how it smells, with just a tinge of hop and yeast bitterness to it in the aftertaste. Not very fizzy or gassy, it doesn’t develop a head of foam when you pour it out, but you can get a good chug going without worrying about hurricane-force belches afterwards. It’s excellent accompaniment for mild-tasting, crunchy snacks like pork rinds, tortilla chips, habas mojadas*, pretzels, etc.

* I found these snacks at the same farm shop where I found many of these Red Rock beers. If you haven’t tried them, habas mojadas are apparently baked broad beans (or lima beans, if you’re American), thickly coated in mildly spicy batter and fried until golden-brown and crunchy. I was sceptical myself, but I’ll try just about anything once, and the damn things are addictively delicious.

For some reason, the first action figure I thought of upon seeing this beer was G.I. Joe’s resident tough-as-nails drill instructor, Beachhead. Probably the combination of Beach + Body Part. Something about this particular brew is unnerving: of all the bottle-conditioned ales I’ve drunk over the years for these reviews, only Jail Gaol Ale has had more loose yeasty sediment in it. I’ve drunk two bottles of this stuff for the purpose of these reviews, and for both, I’ve had to leave a whole mouthful of dregs in the bottom of the bottle, swimming in yeast particles. Oh, well. It’s still a pretty darn good beer, even if a mouthful is wasted with every bottle.

Drink this if you also like: Beachcomber, any other tangy golden ales, craft beers.

Now, there are quite a few more Red Rock beers out there, but I’ll be a lizard’s uncle if I can figure out any action figure connections to them. If you find any, try ’em. They’re very nice.