Hop Rod Rye (Bear Republic Brewing Co.)

It was an unseasonably warm and sunny winter day in Seattle one Saturday and the only thing that would quench my thirst was a nice cold bitter beer.  I opened my fridge and looked at the nice variety of hand selected craft brews to my avail.  After briefly considering my options, I found one that would hopefully meet my thirsts desire.  A nice Rye IPA coming out of a brewery located in sunny California, the Bear Republic Brewing Co. to be exact.  At 8% and 80 IBUs, I am looking forward to this one, so lets get on to the good stuff.

THE BEER:

From the label on the bottle…

Don’t drink and Drag.  Sediment at bottom of the bottle may be a result of the truckload of hops in the non-filtered Ale.

Bump City Brews thoughts…

Pour:  Reddish-orange in color, a very good looking beer.  Produced a thin off-white head where retention lasted throughout the session…also had good lacing around the glass.  I did notice a small amount of particles in the body of the beer which was likely a result of being non-filtered as mentioned on the label by the brewer.  The sediment did not take anything away from the experience or appearance of the beer though…if anything, it made me appreciate the fact that I was drinking high quality craft ale.

Aroma:  A medium-light floral perfume nose to it as a result of the hops.  Other than that I did not detect much more aroma.  Considering the amount of hops claimed to be used in this beer, I would have expected more hop aroma present.  No malt aromas detected by me either…maybe my nose was having an off day.

Taste:  It’s obvious how the “truckload” of hops were used…bittering agent… A Crisp, grapefruit bitterness dominates this beer.  Rye is known to accentuate hop flavors in beer, and the 18% of Rye in this beer did its job right.  The aftertaste of bitterness stayed on my palate for quite some time too.  Keep this in mind if you plan on drinking beers with more delicate flavors later on, you might drink this one later on in the session. 

Overall:  I got what I wanted.  A very citrusy bitter beer with surprisingly less hop aroma that I expected.  There is a little body to the beer, probably from the Rye, but not much more that that.  By brewing a Rye IPA, the intentions of the brewer were probably to make the Hops stand out and I think he achieved his goal through this beer.  Personally, I wouldn’t start out by drinking this beer first and if you are introducing a friend to hoppy beers, this might not be a good one for beginners…but then again, we all share a different palate…so cheers!

Will I buy more of it?:  Yea, but I would by it in a 12 oz. bottle as opposed to 22 oz.  For me, it’s a great beer to drink on a lazy summer afternoon.  But be forewarned, this one will getcha if you’re not careful…weighing in at 8% ABV, this one caught me off guard and made my eyes a little droopy!

Vintage:  2009

BEER FACTS:

Name:  Hop Rod Rye

Style:  Rye IPA

Brewery:  Bear Republic

City:  Cloverdale

Country:  USA

Container:  22 oz

Malts:  Rye/?   

Hops:  Unknown

ABV:  8%

IBUs:  80

Date:  2.20.2010

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