Gargantuan grapefruit. Vengeful hops. Vicious and delicious. Ruby’s Revenge Imperial Grapefruit IPA is one big, bad beast of an Imperial IPA, and a welcome addition to our Imperial IPA Series (even if it is somewhat terrifying… terrifyingly delicious, of course!)
You can’t run and you can’t hide, because Ruby is wreaking delicious havoc everywhere our beer is sold. While the beer tastes just right, the label might give you a fright! The calamitous citrus crop depicted on the label art, illustrated by Sam Hadley, is our twisted tribute to the campy monsters of so-bad-they’re-good creature features.
This all got us thinking – which horror films pair best with Ruby’s fiercely fresh ruby red grapefruit and tantalizing citrusy hop aromas? We asked our fellow employee-owners at the brewery for their expert scary movie pairings. Here’s their top three!
Veronica Bagley (Gift Shop and Tours Manager)
“I’d pair Ruby’s Revenge with Halloween – the original from 1978,” says Veronica Bagley, GLBC’s Gift Shop and Tours Manager. “Ruby’s Revenge combines a hefty ABV of 8% with the highly refreshing one-two punch of real grapefruit purée and fresh ginger. Like Michael Myers in the film, if you’re not careful, this beer will sneak up on you!” Veronica is also confident that an Imperial Grapefruit IPA would pair with fava beans better than a nice Chianti (her nod to Silence of the Lambs).
Veronica certainly knows her way around the scary stuff. She and her team of tour guides conducted GLBC’s first ever ghost tours in the autumn of 2021. Be on the lookout for when 2022’s tours are announced – tickets will go fast!
Nathaniel Urban (Barback and Host)
Nathaniel Urban. GLBC busser, host, gift shop associate, and tour guide by day – and horror film buff by night! As someone who works in all of GLBC’s charmingly (and sometimes creepily) creaky 19th century buildings, Nathaniel is well in tune with the ever-so-eerie. Plus, as a tour guide and beer educator, he knows his way around suds as well, so we had to ask him for his pairing.
“Ruby’s Revenge pairs well with Motel Hell,” says Nathaniel. “The hops we use in Ruby’s Revenge are ripe with a harvest of flavor – citrus rind, grapefruit flesh, orange, and more. In fact, they’re about as ripe for harvest as the ‘cabbages’ Farmer Vincent uses to make his ‘fritters.’”
Ron Readence (Bottler)
It doesn’t matter where you work or what time of the year it is – night shift can feel a little spooky. At GLBC, we make a frighteningly large amount of beer out of a relatively small facility, so we run three shifts to make sure we can brew, ferment, package, and ship enough beer to sate the thirst of our fans. Naturally, we had to ask an off-shift brewery employee for their Ruby’s Revenge recommendation, and Ron Readence (Bottler – Second Shift) stepped up to the plate!
“One of my all-time favorites is Phantasm. It’s a 1979 science fantasy horror film.” While the film’s content itself is a fitting pair, Ron points out that, “it is a cult classic, and an independently made film – very much like how we at GLBC remain an independent (and employee-owned) brewery to this day.” And we’d like to think that Ruby’s Revenge is well on its way to becoming a cult classic itself!
Ready for some botanical b-movie madness? Use our Beer Finder to locate Ruby’s Revenge Imperial Grapefruit IPA at a retailer near you.
Honorable Mentions:
• Alex Orsagos (Cellar Tech) – The Ruins
• Marissa DeSantis (Brand Marketing Manager) – Jaws 3-D
• Mark King (CEO) – The Day of the Triffids
