Belgian Style Rye Ale - A Delicious Misnomer

Diligent readers will recall my series on Rye IPA Better Red Than Dead and RyePA Digested. In them, I detailed my quest to create a rye beer that has the characteristics of an American IPA, specifically, Founders Red's Rye pale ale. Red's Rye is pretty bold with its 6.6% ABV and a bit of residual sugar - a deep richness comes from four varieties of Belgian caramel malts. The dry hopping of American Amarillo is quite aggressive. My version, though not a photocopy of Founders' beer, was bone dry with bright hop aromas and hints of caramel. With the success of that beer (definitely above average for me) and my love of beers, I wanted to try to make a different version.

Somewhere in my brain was the desire to create a more Belgian-style rye beer, using Belgian malts and a softer hop character. I bought Belgian base malt, but then like an idiot picked up American caramel malt (60 L). I also had purchased some hyper-American hops (Cascade, Chinook, and Centennial). Basically, the Belgian train ran off the tracks as it was leaving the station. Not that that stopped me from calling it a Belgian-style rye beer.

Left to Right:

• 1 lb Rye Malt
• 2.5 lb Belgian Pale Malt
• .75 lb American Caramel Malt (60 L)

My mash accidentally got a bit warm (I got distracted at a critical moment) so there is definitely a potential for the ABV to be low and the residual sugar to be high.

One problem with rye malt is that it makes a mash really really sticky. It takes a long time and great pain to properly separate the spent grain from the wort. Maybe I should use the proper 10ish percent rye instead of the generous 25% to make it easier.

Hops:

• 1/3 oz Chinook for First-Wort Hopping
• 1/3 oz Centennial for 30 minutes
• 1/2 oz Cascades for 10 minutes
• 1/2 oz Cascades dry-hopped.

This time, I decided to dry-hop within the fermenter (as is traditional) using a plastic mesh bag.

OG - 1.060

FG - 1.024

ABV - 5.0%

IBU - 55

Appearance: A bit cloudy with slowly rising bubbles. The head pours slightly tan. The color is on the red side of amber with the slightest hint of brown.

Aroma: Fresh, fresh, fresh, fresh hops and all that comes with it - citrus, pine, and spice. Also a slight hint of caramel.

Flavor: Starts with the rye spice, then moves on to a medium-sweet malty flavor. Finishes with the tasty hops. It's not as complex as I'd like, but fits the genre of rye beer pretty nicely.

Mouthfeel: It's gotten thinner as it's been in the bottle from the sugar-to-alcohol conversion. It doesn't feel as satisfying in the mouth as some other beers I've made, but it's okay to have things on the lighter side from time to time. It lingers a bit sticky, but not in a bad way.

Drinkability: Keg please. Need I say more?

Oh my do I love rye.

Prost!