Sunday Night Suds - Shmaltz Brewing Co's Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A.

This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Shmaltz Brewing Company's Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A., a Rye Double IPA.

[Due to  the mouthful of a title for this beer, it will be simply referred to "the RIPA", with no intended reference to any TV host].

I found this beer in the Beverage Barn on Jericho Turnpike in Garden City Park, where they let you buy singles of anything not in a closed box. They do upcharge by the standard formula (charging you the price of 1/5 of a six pack) but the slight increase over their usually decent price is not significant when you consider that they have such a great variety of kosher beer.

The first thing that struck me about the RIPA is its resemblance to a barleywine. This beer is 10% abv and you can tell it from the first sip. That's not to say that it is undrinkable as the beer was not just about the alcohol flavor as it was truly a rich and complex brew. But I would definitely call this a sipping beer, preferably one enjoyed on its own, not with a meal. 

As discussed above, the beer is not just about the alcohol and there is hop bite and some floral notes, deep grapefruit crossed with bock notes. The beer poured a dark brown, almost chocolate with some foam but not an excessive amount of carbonation. It served as a good accompaniment to the after dinner learning we did Friday night and I would recommend that it would be shared with good friends after a meal.

Shmaltz RIPA is under the Kosher Supervision of the KSA, as are many, if not all of the Shmaltz products.

To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about the brew, please follow this link www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/262/30970.

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).

Lastly, if you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!