ABV: 6.2%
IBU: 60

You can call Labor Day the end of summer all you like, but it certainly doesn’t feel like fall. The trees will still be green for a few weeks, sweaters and jackets aren’t necessary, and sunburns are still a reality for anyone standing 4 hours in an open air stadium. However, it’s very clearly time to retire the sunny beers of summer. This week I attempted to make the switch to heavier seasonal beers and within minutes of sipping my first pumpkin ale of the year, my phone buzzed. At that precise moment the Porchdrinking.com staff decided we needed to discuss drinking pumpkin beers out of season. I looked around the bar, positive someone also in search of a big beer list and 20 cent wings was ratting me out for moving to fast into Fall.

Sierra Nevada understands the problem with these in-between times and provides a tasty treat for these transitional period with Flipside Red IPA. A perfect blending of the sharp citrus bite of the summer seasonal and with the malted heft of a red ale, this brew comes out August to October to help ease you from your grassy days of outdoor drinking back to strong, malty nights where you’ll need the boozy warmth to make it home.

The beer pours with a nice brick red with a thin line of head and a bright pink grapefruit smell. With the first sip you are awash in the highly effervescent brew and taste like a perfectly ripened nectarine with just a hint of caramel that has a fall or winter heft. Flipside will leave you in a state of perfect beer zen as both your chest is warmed and your tongue is hit with its crisp, dry finish. The aftertaste throws you for a bit out of loop, switching back and forth from sweet & sour on the edges of your tongue while the malt sticks to the back of your throat. It sounds confusing, but the jangle to your taste buds forces you to engage with the beer and appreciate its ability to somehow cram Indian summer in a bottle.

So grab a sixer, go outside with a book and a blanket and enjoy the last few weeks of good weather before the trees outside start to resemble the trees on Flipside’s label.