Lickinghole Creek Redneck Soap Opera
This 11.5% ABV Quadrupel-style ale from Goochland’s Lickinghole Creek couldn’t be any better named. Redneck Soap Opera is as dramatic, confusing and over-the-top as you would expect based on the brew’s moniker.
I’m not joking when I say the brewery added a ton of additional ingredients into this beer. Take a look as what was added after the brewery crafted the base Belgian-style quad:
- cinnamon
- ginger
- star anise
- black peppercorn
- coriander
- nutmeg
- vanilla
- whole clove
- cardamom
- allspice
- orange peel
But wait, that’s not all. The beer was then aged for a further three months in rum barrels. I have a feeling that if the base of Redneck Soap Opera was the only thing to go into those barrels, this review would have turned out much different. With the addition of everything above, however, the beer is strongly over-spiced — to the point that it’s like drinking liquid potpourri. Very little of the quadrupel comes through the curtain of spices and the rum barrel influence is minimal at best.
Had this beer been released prior to last year’s holiday season, perhaps its flavors would have been more appropriate. As it stands now, this one needs to be cellared for a good long while for those spices to get the mellowing they so desperately require.
Appearance
Redneck Soap Opera pours with a tan cap of dense foam atop the dark, mahogany-edge liquid.
Aroma
Loads of spices with vanilla, cardamom and anise leading the way. Nutmeg, cinnamon and a soft roast follow quickly behind with hints of yeast and rummy and woody notes bringing up the rear.
Taste
This is a heavily spiced and cloved beer. As mentioned above, there’s not much of the base quadrupel in the mix and maybe a hint of rum barrel. So much spice. A soft alcohol warmth wraps up the medium bodied brew.
Overall
I really wanted to like this beer and, perhaps, I would have enjoyed this spice bomb more over the colder months of Winter. Having it released in April — or at least having found it then — the flavors just don’t fly. There’s just too much of that spice blend going on within Redneck Soap Opera. A year or two in the cellar would do this beer some serious good, allow those spices to mellow.
Rating: 2.75/5
