Got a pleasant surprise in the liquor store the other day while shopping for some holiday beverages and candidates for future columns. I found in the new release section some six-packs of Paddock Wood’s Red Hammer. I had heard that the folks at PW had made it a part of their regular line-up after a very successful seasonal release last year.I hadn’t seen it in our neck of the woods until this week.

Red Hammer is an offshoot of their previous Vienna Red  – a beer I enjoyed quite a bit. They decided to make the whole thing a bit bigger, turning the beer into something of a Marzen/Oktoberfest (they call it “an old world style red beer”). When I first heard that news I was a tad disappointed, simply because we have NO good examples of the Vienna-style and PW’s was the first honest (and fairly successful) attempt at it. However, we also lack in Canadian-made Oktoberfests as well, so maybe all is even in the end.

At any rate, it is no surprise a bottle was quickly sacrificed to my curiousity – holiday needs be damned. First off, I must comment on the label, which is loosely winknig at Socialist Realism (look at that, come to a beer blog, get an art history lesson!). I have always had a soft-spot for the look of that art genre, and so like the connections found in this beer.

As for the beer itself it is darker than most Marzens, pouring deep copper with red tinges and forming a light tan head that does not impress at first but shows surprising staying power. The aroma is of bread and toast with the edges a bit burnt. I also pick up hints of toffee and butterscotch. It is clean but has an earthy undertone I find intriguing.

The flavour presents as promised. Quite sweet upfront, with bread, toffee, toast, brown sugar and honey. Quite complex. It has a deep, rich quality to its flavour. The finish dries out a bit with some hard-to-place spiciness (hops?) and a return of that earthy feel. It is fuller and tastes darker than most marzen/oktoberfests I have sampled. Some may find it too sweet, but I like its assertive malt character. This is quite the enjoyable quaff on a December evening. I am glad I didn’t wait.

I still lament the loss of the only decent Vienna available in these parts – in part because I am dying to tell that story in one of my columns. However, if this is what replaces it, I imagine my period of mourning will be quite short.