Sunday Night Suds - Saranac Rye IPA

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Saranac's Rye IPA.

The Rye IPA was one of the seasonal beers which was included in the Saranac 12 Beers of Winter box. As regular readers of this blog are aware, I have already reviewed the other beers from this mix box in prior posts. The question which must be asked is acaharon acharon chaviv (a Jewish expression meaning the last is the most loved) or did I put off reviewing this beer because it was the runt of the litter?

The beer poured a deep yellow (think the Crayola Maize color), much lighter than I would normally expect from an IPA. Typically, IPA's pour a coppery color with some significant head. I can't tell the scientific reason why the color usually comes out that way, its just something that I have observed.

The taste of the beer was also on the lighter side of IPA. There is some spicy hop flavor in the beginning, but the beer does not have the strong bite that I was expecting. The Rye IPA also claims to have a near 6.0% abv which is on the low end for an IPA, but I would have guessed that it would have been lower than that.

The Rye IPA would be a great accompaniment to cholent (as more IPA's are) as the hop flavor always goes well with the barley, potato flavor of the stew. Give me a shabbos afternoon with a cholent and an IPA and I will come to mincha refreshed and ready.

So is it acharon, acharon chaviv or the bottom of the barrel? If you like IPA's but don't want to drown in hops, this would be a good choice for you. If not, see if you can find someone else to give it to.

Saranac Rye IPA is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit, as is every other brew produced by Saranac. To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Saranac Rye IPA, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/99/53201.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.

If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

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