Name in honor of Gordon Knight, a Vietnam Vet who lost his life fighting a fire outside of the brewery’s town, this beer is a not to his service and love for craft beer.  Not sure where to go with this review after that.  Gordon is a hero…straight up! The sweet green (my favorite color) label reads, “If you know the man behind this tribute, this ale needs no explanation. If you didn’t, we’re sorry.” Well, I hope it celebrates Gordon’s life.

From the pour I can tell you this is not the darkest looking red ale that I’ve seen. In fact, it looks just likes about the same color as most double IPAs to me. The head is slow to form and does so just enough to let you know it is not a flat beer before it fades off just a slow. There is some lacing as you sip as this beer is rather sticky both in aroma and mouthfeel.

Speaking of which, the aroma is pretty laden with hops. Citrus qualities can be found as they dry hop this beer with Amarillo. A hint of grapefruit, orange juice, and some mango lead the way before the malts catch up.  On the sweeter side of things the malts give off that classic light toasty character with the slightest touch of caramel. There is no abv warmth or heat in the smell. For the most part, although this beer is an imperial red ale, the signature highlights seem a bit muted. As I said, it reminds me more of an imperial/double IPA.

The taste is just as described above. Pretty straight forward. This beer does not pull any fast ones on you from nose to palate. There is a pleasant orange quality that I thoroughly enjoyed towards the middle of the sip. The hopping is not too strong as I was expecting, but it did carry a moderately sticky mouthfeel. The finish is clean bitter wash as a light toasty sweetness settles during the aftertaste. This was an approachable higher abv beer that might be worth checking out as a gateway into bigger beers.