Boulevard Brewing Co. - Rye on Rye ale

Today's review is a special one: Kansas City, MO-based Boulevard Brewing Company's Rye-on-Rye grain ale. It's part of their Smokestack Series; a series of beers that focus on outlandish ingredients, special brewing methods, and interesting flavor combinations. Tribune newswriter Josh Noel wrote a really nice syndicated article about Boulevard a few months back:

"...one of the best and most dependable series in craft beer: Boulevard's Smokestack beers. Born in 2006, the Smokestack series includes five year-round brews (most famous is Tank 7 saison) and a series of limited-edition releases...[Master brewer Stephen] Pauwels said...the primary goal is to stay counterintuitive and fun."

That's a good way to describe these beers. Counterintuitive. I've tried numerous Smokestack beers, and all have provided an interesting twist on the base idea -the Tank No. 7 farmhouse ale, which was a lot spicier than most saisons; the Bourbon Barrel Quad, which is an epic quadrupel  experience; the Saison-Brett, also epic; the Grainstorm black rye IPA, which was oddly tasty; and the Dark Truth stout, which tasted more like liquefied road tar extruded through a copper whiskey still. I cannot recommend these enough, with the exception of the Dark Truth (unless you like drinking pothole patch.) 

Boulevard definitely pushes the envelope when it comes to their beers, and so when I saw this bottle on the shelf, I simply had to get one. Scratch that, three. The bottles are individually-numbered and dated so I won't forget when I bought these. I grabbed one to save until next year (to see how it ages, since beers of this caliber and alcohol content can be aged for years) and two to drink now. The first time I had this, I was so tipsy I couldn't even write a review. I'm now revisiting my second bottle, in the hopes of transcribing my divine experience to you.

The color is deep red, almost brown, with a warm clear orange when held to the light. The head is bony-white, with cool amoeba-like bubbles that developed after a few minutes.

The nose is of strong malts, alcohol, and citrus. Breathe deep - you are standing in the presence of a beer deity.

The taste is amazing. The first gulp hit my mouth like a whiskey-rye sledgehammer of deliciousness, bringing  a delightfully-deep taste of rye, wood, and toffee. The flavor is really rich and doesn't lose its grip throughout the entire tasting. The texture is thick but drinkable. The beer is warm and heavy, like a velvet blanket. The aftertaste is one of pleasant, warm alcohol flavors with toffee and dry citrus notes all the way. The beer warms its way down my esophagus, like a nice single-malt after a long winter's day.

This is simply how rye ales should be done. End of story. While both Sierra Nevada and Rogue had their chance - with the Ruthless Rye coming in far ahead of the Roguenbier in terms of taste - neither of them stand up at all to the Rye-on-Rye. The depth of flavor is really what does it here - there's nothing like experiencing the full flavor weight of that rye whiskey barrel-aged ale, borne on the wings of 12% ABV. That alcohol content and the delicious smoothness of the beer makes for some

While the Bourbon Barrel Quad had that deep, fermented taste of powerful quadrupel  ales, the Rye-on-Rye comes at you in a different fashion - with a direct, full taste and a hint of bitterness from wood, not hops. So the bitterness was just a hint, more of a flavor, than an actual element of the beer.

Another great showing. This beer is powerful, deep, and well worth whatever you pay for it. Seek it out!

Cigar Flash: Drew Estate "Tabak Especial Dulce" (Nicaragua)

Here's what I've been smoking lately: a delicious little coffee-washed robusto cigar from Nicaragua, courtesy of the awesome torceadores at Drew Estate.

This is their "Tabak Especial" line, which are cigars washed with coffee prior to stoving. The format is small enough to enjoy on an afternoon walk (or snow day!) but long enough to really taste that coffee flavor. I also kinda like the shaggy foot; it makes lighting this sucker easier.

I don't think I've come across a Drew Estate smoke I don't like. Their ACID series is pretty awesome, as well - and their Liga Undercrown is great if you like dark, oily, liga wrappers.

Sierra Nevada - Ruthless Rye IPA

In the spirit of last week's post, I'd like to review another rye ale that I think is a better example of the power of rye in beers. It's Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye IPA - a 6.6% ABV India pale ale made with rye.

I really like the caramel color of this beer - it's pretty and the light hits it nicely. As you can see, the beer is well-carbonated. Lots of little bubbles. It's not pictured, but the beer has a nice white frothy head.

There's a strong, crisp, hoppy note to this beer - as expected. The taste itself is excellent - there's a pleasingly-bitter hops taste that's balanced nicely with dry citrus and warm rye flavors. There's a clean, crisp finish and a warm bready aftertaste that's really quite nice. It's smooth, crisp, and finishes nicely on the palette.

This is a great example of a sessionable IPA. It's not overly bitter and is light enough that you can drink several over the course of the night and enjoy it. Plus, since it's made with rye, the taste is sharper but not painfully so. The real treasure in this beer is how it's balanced - there's no taste or burnt anything, nothing super hoppy, but it still packs flavor.

Some people will be put off by this beer - I get that. After all, it's an IPA by Sierra Nevada, which has a reputation for making bitter and strong IPAs. And the folks who don't like IPAs won't be particularly enamored with this. But for those of you who like IPAs and are looking for a treat - pick this up and give it a shot.

Rogue Brewing Co. - Rogue Farms "Roguenbier" rye ale

Today's beer belongs to Rogue Brewing Company's "Rogue Farms" line - a line of beers that features organic, self-made beers made from ingredients grown from their own plantation. As you may recall, last September I reviewed another Rogue Farms ale and loved it. So when I saw this one the shelf - a rye ale, for which I have a weak spot - and I snatched it up. $8 at Whole Foods.

Rye ales are great. I'll soon be reviewing the king of rye ales - Boulevard's Smokestack Rye-on-Rye 2014 vintage - so in preparation, I decided to give the 5.5% ABV Roguenbier a spin. As you can see, it's made with Dream rye, Independent hops, and Dare & Risk malts. Apparently, according to the bottle, the first time Rogue Farms planted the Dream rye, it attracted a "wave of slugs" (their words) that ate the whole crop in 24 hours. That sounds pretty gross. Luckily, they kept the slugs at bay for the next crop, and here we have it, bottled and ready.

So here we go. Beer opened nicely with little carbonation hiss. The pour was smooth, with very little head. The eye is a chocolate brown. When held up to the light, it takes on an interesting caramel color. Hmm.

The beer had no serious nose at all. It was a little surprising, since I expected it to have a more powerful, hoppy rye smell to it. I dug into the beer and had a few sips followed by a gulp. It was surprising - the taste is thin, relatively flavorless, which some vague taste of roasted oats. Really nothing like I expected it to be.

As it opens up to the air, there's a bit more taste to it...some malty tastes. But it's still pretty sedated. But, there's nice lacing on the glass, so it's got that going for it.

In conclusion, this beer is kind of unimpressive. It's not bad, but I expected there to be much more taste packed in to the bottle. And although it's not actively awful, it's still not good enough to recommend. It's hard to even go more in-depth into the taste than I already have. There's just not much here! And that's frustrating, since Rogue is usually good about making their beers taste good.

You're much better served at that price point getting a bottle of Rogue's Chipotle Ale or perhaps a Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout. Both are much better than this.