December 2 - Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye Ale


December 2! Tonight's beer is Californian microbrewery Bear Republic's Hop Rod Rye Ale, which is an 8% Rye IPA using 18% Rye Malt for the batch, the website notes that it's earthy with some caramel notes thanks to the rye.

Appearance: A great amount of sediment in this beer floating all over the place.. which is something the typical beer drinker out here would get scared of immediately because apparently beer has to look like "urine" and not having "things" "floating" "in it". "air quotes."

Hop Rod Rye has a murky copper brown look to it, a bit like swamp water and a light beige head.

Aroma: There's a bit of heat coming out of the aroma, almost like as if it's smoked but nope.. that's the rye talkin! As well, a nice balance of hops giving it a sort of bitterness to it, not quite pine, but quite.. woodsy. Quite rich, slightly roasty and a bit of caramel in there... not bad.

Taste: The 18% rye content is certainly noticeable in there, giving it a bit of a rye graininess to it. A woody hop bitterness, light amount of citrus. A pretty thick and bitter Rye Ale. Not as sweet & fruity as the reviews I've read up upon, but nothing wrong with that.. right? Right?!

Overall Thoughts: Crazy to think that this has 8%, it's going to slowly sink up on me. The rye is noticeable for me, as well as the woodiness of the hops, the more I drink this, the more the hops start to pop up and the flavours start to be unleashed more, a bit of grapefruit. I love RyePAs, being in the heart of Rye Country, Canada, we need more rye beers and rye ryes!

bearrepublic.com/beer/hop-rod-rye/

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