LowRYEder IPA - SweetWater Brewing Company

    LowRYEder IPA is SweetWater Brewing Company's (Atlanta, Georgia) take on a Rye India Pale Ale. The SweetWater website proclaims that their beer is made with a massive 25% shot of rye malts in addition to the normal malts found in beers.

    The Rye IPA pours a hazy orange color and creates a thin off-white head with low retention, though high lacing.

    The beer smells mainly of citrus hops with other fruits more subtly present. There is an earthy, grassy smell to the beer as well as a slight spice, presumably from the rye.

    LowRyeder is slightly thicker than medium bodied and has a medium level of carbonation. The carbonation seems to quickly fade \to a lower lever, however. At 6.2% ABV, LowRyeder has only the slightest bit of alcohol character, mainly just a slight warmth.

LowRYEder mobile! Is is still illegal if alcohol itself drives?

    SweetWater's Rye IPA is bitter right up front, though it quickly mellows out thanks to sweet caramel malts. The rye flavors come in towards the end with a bit of a peppery spice. Pine and grapefruit flavors from the hops accompany the beer's bitterness, as do slight tropical fruit flavors.

    I've never really understood low riders. To me, they look a bit like someone blew up a child's toy car to full size. I can't image that the vehicles are very practical. I mean, can you drive over railroad tracks, or any bumps at all really, without ripping off your bumper? Regardless, LowRYEder is much less silly of a beer than lowriders are vehicles. I do find myself wishing that SweetWater's Rye IPA had a bit more of a rye flavor, but overall everything is quite balanced. LowRYEder falls on the much sweeter side of American IPAs though, so don't go in expecting a classic IPA.

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Salmon Fly Honey Rye - Madison River Brewing Company

    Salmon Fly Honey Rye is a Rye Beer created by Madison River Brewing Company which is located in Belgrade, Montana. I received this beer as part of my craft brew club.

    The Rye Beer pours a pale straw color with almost no head to speak of. I really expected this beer to be darker colored, and the lack of head makes me worry about the beer's body.

    The beer smells very sweet. There are notes of honey perceptible as well as bready malts, the peppery spice of rye, and some fruity notes from the hops. Strangely enough, instead of the normal citrus/pine scent of hops, this beer smells almost like apples.

    Salmon Fly Honey Rye is thin bodied with a very low level of carbonation. With an alcohol content of 5.6% ABV, no alcohol characteristics are present.

    Madison River's Rye Beer tastes much like it smells. Toasted bread malt flavors intermingle with the honey's sweetness. There is only the slightest bit of hops flavor to the beer, and only as a finish to the spicy and sweet notes put forth by the beer. Overall the flavors are very light. The beer tastes slightly watery due to the flavor's subtlety. Just as I thought I could smell apple in the beer, I also taste it a little bit in the beer's aftertaste.

    It is a goal of mine to one day be somewhere that I can regularly fish for salmonids. Unfortunately with my current skill level in fly fishing I would likely do a much better job of catching trees and unfortunate fellow fishermen. I'm starting to wonder, however, if I might be able to catch a few fish by pouring some of this beer into their natural habitat. As we all know, beer makes people stupid. If this is also true for fish, more than likely one is going to look at his friends a be like "hey dude, watch this!" right before he swims at me full speed. Of course with his  (because obviously only a male would show off like this) slowed reaction times I could easily snatch the fish out of the water as he attempted to tease me in front of his friends. Some might say that this would be unfair to the fish. I just say that it's using my resources!

    Salmon Fly Honey Rye is not really a beer that I would choose to drink regularly. There was nothing unpleasant about the beer, but there also wasn't anything that stood out. I would really rather have a beer which put flavor first a little bit more and came off as less watery. Still, if Salmon Fly is all that's on tap, it's still going to be way better than those...other beers.

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Rye'da Tiger - Three Floyds Brewing Co.

    Rye'da Tiger is a Double Rye India Pale Ale created by Three Floyds Brewing Co. in Munster, Indiana. I picked up this 22oz. bomber on a special birthday visit to the 3Floyds Brewpub. The menu at the brewpub explains that this new December release is dedicated to the late Ronnie James Dio. The beer's name likely refers to a phrase in the song Holy Diver.

    The beer pours a  hazy amber color with a tall white head. It smells slightly malty with a strong presence of citrusy hops. As expected, there is a faint, peppery rye scent to the beer as well.

    The ale is medium bodied and smooth with a moderate level of carbonation.

Rye'da Tiger pours like a rainbow in the dark.

    Rye'da Tiger's ABV is not listed online, nor is it listed on the bottle. If I had to chance a guess based on flavor and style however, I'd say that the ABV is likely around 7.5-8%. Surprisingly, the higher than normal ABV is not noticeable in the beer's flavor. As for the beer's flavor, sweet caramel malts and citrus fruits prevail with a tiny hint of the rye's spiciness at the end. I find Double IPAs to be sweeter than their single batch counterparts, and this one is no different.

    I have heard rumors that Rye'da Tiger is actually a double batch of Rye'da Lightning, a Rye Beer created by Three Floyds for Record Store Day 2012. I have not tried that limited release beer though, so I'm not sure how credible the rumor may be. Either way, I love the two beers' names. I'm hoping that Three Floyds's next creation will be Rye'da Dragon or Mead'a Dragon, but then maybe that's because I've been playing too much Skyrim.

    Overall, Rye'da Tiger features lots of great hop flavor while balancing the bitterness with its sweet malt backbone. I have found that Three Floyds Brewing Co. tends to balance their beers well in this manner, with a few exceptions. I expected there to be more rye flavor in the ale than was present however. This Double Rye IPA is definitely a decent ale, but may not be the best representation of a rye beer.

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