Rye has been a part of the brewer’s tool kit since at least the Middle Ages. Bavarian Germans have been making roggenbier — a style similar to the German wheat beer, but made with rye instead of wheat — for at least that long. “Rustic” is one descriptor that has been applied to the flavor of rye in beer. It brings sharp, almost bitter spiciness with softer, bready undertones. Imagine the crust of a freshly baked loaf of rye bread crusted with cracked black pepper. In this country, any rye beer brewing that may have occurred was quashed by Prohibition, its spicy product lost to the homogenization of the American beer landscape that followed. But adventurous American craft brewers have brought it back, and the number of rye beers available has proliferated in the past decade, including the five in our beer flight Craft Beer Crosscut 1.9.18: A Flight of Rye Spiciness.
Loowit Grimlock Rye Porter
5% ABV, 32 IBU
In 2012, longtime friends Devon Bray and Thomas Poffenroth opened Loowit Brewing Company in downtown Vancouver, Washington, helping revive the city and quickly became a force in the Southwest Washington beer scene. In 2016, Loowit Brewing won a Silver Award at the prestigious World Beer Cup for their Grimlock Rye Porter, an American Porter featuring dark malts that provide pleasant flavors of chocolate, toffee, coffee and toast. The addition of rye malt builds the complexity of the malt profile by adding a touch of rye spiciness to the finish.
Firestone Walker Leo v Ursus – Inferos
8.2% ABV, 60 IBU
Firestone Walker’s Leo v. Ursus Chronology is born of a longing for high experimentation that was finally fulfilled by the recent launch of the Propagator, Firestone Walker’s pilot brewhouse in Venice, California. The third in the series, Inferos (“The Underworld”), is a rye imperial IPA that is fiery in color, hellacious in hoppiness and bursting with spicy rye goodness. Forged with 25 percent rye grain and loaded with more than four pounds of Galaxy and other Southern Hemisphere hops per barrel, it tastes with spot-on rye malt flavor and resiny hops, plus a smooth and bitter finish.
Drew Curtis/Wil Wheaton/Greg Koch Stone Farking Wheaton wOOtstout
13% ABV, 65 IBU
The w00t is back. This year marks the fifth year Stone Brewing’s collaborative imperial stout hits the street. Stone Farking Wheaton W00tstout 2017, a 13 percent ABV imperial stout brewed with rye, wheat malt and pecans before being partially aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels, is a collaboration between actor Wil Wheaton, Fark.com creator Drew Curtis and Stone CEO Greg Koch. It’s named after Wheaton’s annual festival celebrating cross-genre geekdom w00tstock. Expect raisins, coffee and roasted malt flavors with a spicy finish. The booze is evident but for the ABV it goes down easy. Woot! Woot!
Black Raven BeakTweaker Citrus IPA
6.5% ABV, 77 IBU
All the Black Raven Brewing craft beers reference in some way historical or literary ravens of note, starting with the Trickster IPA, a multiple award-winning tropical fruit IPA to BeakTweaker Citrus IPA, brewed with rye malt. The seasonal BeakTweaker is built on a firm base of barley and rye malts, with bold citrus flavors and aromatics. Indeed, dip your beak into this one for a nice lemon kick with rye spiciness. Waves of citrus and bitter hops dominate this one. The firm bitterness combines with citrus hop characteristics accented by the addition of black lemon, orange peel and lemon peel. There is enough of a rye balance in the malt profile to keep everything in check.
Hair of the Dog Blue Dot Double IPA
7% ABV, 80 IBU
People have been making pilgrimages to Portland for Alan Sprints’ beer since the dark ages — back when hazy and sour beers weren’t made that way intentionally. Hair of the Dog brewed an IPA named after planet Earth with organic Pilsner malt, rye malt and a combo of intense hops. Somewhat pungent in the nose with tons of herbal, floral, citrus grapefruit, raw honey and fresh mint the Blue Dot is a full-bodied, smooth and creamy IPA. Then the hops come to play with a raw leafy coarseness and big smack of grapefruit, ripe pineapple and some sticky resins on the palate. This is all backed by a malt sweetness, touch of honey and a spicy character unique to the addition of rye.
