XryeZ | American Rye
A light, dry, easy-drinking American Rye. Pours clear and copper in color. Slight spiciness tied in with sweet pine and floral aroma make this beer a welcoming bouquet. A heavy winter warmer now, a light and easy version come summertime.
ABV: 5.5% | IBU: 25
Malt: Rye, Caravienne Pale, Crystal-20
Hops: Cascade
Charlie Hoxmeier | Head Brewer
The rye has a long history, and it was also one of the first batches I home brewed. After brewing it over ten years, I’ve changed the recipe, here in there, to pull out those flavors that I wanted. And I always wanted the rye to be very apparent. Rye is a very distinctive grain. It adds a lot of body and mouth-feel to the beer, and also a lot of spiciness. Which, when the levels of rye get too high, it can turn people off to the beer because it’s such a distinctive taste. We found the right amount of rye for the beer that balances the maltiness and spiciness of the rye with the citrusy floral aspects of the Cascade hops.
This beer started on my homebrew system - one of the very first batches. I changed it over the course of 10 years to come up with this final version. I think for a rye beer in general, it has the right balance between the rye spiciness and the floral hoppiness, and it turns into a very very cool beer. And it’s also something we’re going to change based on the season. For the summer season, a lighter version of this beer is great, goes down easy, and once we get into fall and winter, this beer can easily add a ton more body to this beer and make it a heavy winter warmer.
I think this beer’s a great reflection of the road that I’ve traveled as a brewer, and making the jump to commercial brewing. A good reflection of finding a good place to start making beer, then moving into creating and tweaking your own recipes, and then finally brewing it in such a way that’s approachable and appeals to a wide audience. This beer really reflects my journey as a brewer; I’m proud of this beer because I’ve been brewing it for so long. And we’ve had a lot of good feedback from the people drinking this beer, that they enjoyed it as well.