It's Rye but it aint Whiskey

A lot of beer drinkers don't like anything outside the norm. To some degree I can understand the thinking, but that's not me - I love trying something new, different and have learnt to enjoy the challenge of something a bit different. Rye beer shouldn't be too much of a stretch really, considering it's been brewed for hundreds of years. Rye is also a familiar ingredient in whiskey.

Kaimai Brewing might not be trying to start a Rye resurgence, but they do have a take on the traditional Barvarian beer style. Whether you consider Rye Beer to belong with fruit beers on the fringes of the beer canon, or somewhere near wheat as a kind of speciality beer, it's worth taking a look at the tradition and the characteristics of Rye Beer.

Rye Beer is made when malted Rye grass (funnily enough) is substituted for some of the barley malt on the grains bill. In the 1500's Rye was a fairly common addition to beer but repeated Ergot infections caused the use of Rye to be outlawed. Ergot poisoning is pretty nasty so this was probably for the best. Anyway in 1988 the law was repealed and as the current generation of inventive brewers found their places in the beer world Rye once again cropped up in our favourite tipple.

So is it any good?

Kaimai Brewing Co have declared themselves specialists in Rye Brewing so I decided to give their Golden Rye Ale a taste.

True to it's name it sure is Golden - right the way through to a beautiful deep amber colour. This sets the tone for the beer - the intensity is unmistakable. Check out that lovely think head too! It pulled down fairly quickly but held the entire glass.

Then we get to the aroma - malty, but not the familiar barley notes, theres something a bit more going on here and the rye really comes through. Without further ado the taste... The first taste is a lovely chocolatey malt, with a bit of citrus and a nice lingering bitterness on finish. It does bring to mind whiskey comparisons, but mostly through the complexity. It's good, almost too complex to be beer. There's a lot going on in both the aroma and the flavour. It's a wonderful beer to taste but definitely not a session beer! The mouth feel is really something too - full, silky, and almost creamy. It almost feels like it needs chewing.

Having not experienced other Rye Beer I don't have a lot to go on here - it's bloody tasty, very interesting and highly complex. Kaimai also make a Rye Stout so that's on my to do list...