Interesting Beer: Sour Porter and Rye Session Ale

I had a good run of beer in NYC's East Village over the weekend. While there was no shortage of tasty ales, here are a couple of the more memorable ones I recommend looking out for.

Dark Humor
Ithaca Beer Company
American Porter | 7.00% ABV

A- / 4.05
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Had a 10 oz. pour at Good Beer in the East Village. I like the balanced Brett character. I wouldn't have guessed the strength, but maybe the wild yeast has helped dry this one out a bit, the mild tang certainly seems to lift the body. Otherwise there's a wonderful, clear chocolate roast with a little bit of candy sweetness. The Brett pops in for a sharp, slightly acidic citrus note, but not much else. Heck of a beer.

Ryely Summer Rye Ale
Davidson Brothers Restaurant & Brewery

B / 3.58
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Had an imperial pint at Drop Off Service in the East Village. It was billed as a summer rye ale, and I believe it. This is just a nice, satisfying session beer in the same vein as an American wheat ale in that it's simple and clean, showing off a non-barley specialty malt. Instead of the sweet, bready wheat taste, this has the spicier rye character. Very drinkable and though it wasn't the most complex rye beer I've had by a long shot, I'd happily have a couple more pints.

Homebrew: Tavern Tan Rye Pale Ale

Over the weekend I fired up the turkey fryer with Erin and Dan (stirring the hot break) to brew up a batch of Tavern Tan Rye Extra Pale Ale. At the end of the day, we had a higher gravity than intended, so I'm just considering it a pale ale.

One change that likely bumped up the sugar is that I did a more watery grist (for me at least) with 1.3 liters water/1 lb grain.

I also made a couple modifications due to ingredient availability and, well, just because I felt like it. The homebrew shop was low on malted rye, so I subbed in a pound of flaked rye, which will add a little thicker mouthfeel.

Then I swapped the Mt. Hood hops for Cascade and Liberty (since this beer will be ready around the 4th of July). I'll also toss in an ounce of my favorite all-purpose hop variety, Centennial, to dry hop.

For 5 gallons:

6.5# Maris Otter
1.5# Victory Malt
1# Malted Rye
1# Flaked rye

1 oz. Cascade @ 60 min (5% AA)
1 oz. Liberty @ 15 min (3% AA)
1 oz. Liberty @ 0 min
1 oz. Centennial Dry Hop

Wyeast 1272 American Ale II

IBU: 22
SRM: 8
SG: 1.060
FG: 1.010
ABV: 6.6%

UPDATE: This came in stronger than expected, and fermented a bit hotter (up to 80F), so it needs an extra week or so to work off a slight fusel alcohol note.

Homebrew: Tavern Tan Rye Extra Pale Ale

My friend Dave plays drums for the local band Tavern Tan and recently asked me to brew up something tasty and sessionable for an upcoming show. I came up with what I call a rye extra pale ale. Not only does the rye taste great, but these guys are also no stranger to rye whiskey.

The "extra pale ale" part comes from the lowered bitterness. And, I wouldn't want to call this beer a blond ale, because frankly, American blond ales usually suck. But I also kept the pale ale name because this should have a great hoppy character from the late hop additions despite the low IBUs.

For 5 gallons:

7# Maris Otter
2# Malted Rye
1# Victory Malt

1.33 oz. Mt. Hood @ First Wort Hop
1 oz. Mt. Hood @ 5 min
.67 oz. Mt Hood @ 0 min

Wyeast 1056 American Ale

IBU: 26
SRM: 7
SG: 1.051 (after I poured a quart of water in)
FG: 1.008
ABV: 5.6%

Tasting notes after a week in the fermentor: Big bready flavor with rye and toast followed by mild citrus spice and respectable bitterness (on par for a pale ale). A bit yeasty though.

RYEmenocerous

New beer's a brewin'. I thought long and hard about what beer I'd like to make for the Ryemenocerous after brewing the Hiphopopatamus. And the Hiphopopatamus was so deliciously hoppy, I decided to go in the opposite direction. This beer will be an English-style bitter/pale ale brewed with a big share of rye. Instead of being big nd bitter, it will be immanently drinkable. It's currently bubbling away and should be ready by the end of May.


RYEmenocerous
Size: 5 gallons
Color: 9 HCU (~7 SRM)
Bitterness: 30 IBU
OG: 1.036
FG: 1.008
Alcohol: 3.6%

Grain:
6 lb. Maris Otter pale
1.5 lb. Rye
.5 lb. British crystal 60L

Mash: 60% efficiency

Hops:
1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 60 min.)
1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 15 min.)
1 oz. Kent Goldings (aroma)

Yeast: Wyeast London ESB Ale 1968

Oh and for anyone that doesn't know why I'm using this ridiculous names. Here's the original Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros from Flight of the Conchords: