I’m back at home, back at my familiar haunts. (This stool at my regular does not bear my backside’s imprint–a testament to my self-control, frankly.)
And it’s good to be home.
But while I’m enjoying a quesadilah (as the charming barmaid pronounces it, to tweak my nose) and a Fremont Summer Solstice at my regular, I want to remember one brewery from my travels–and, in particular, one beer.
The brewery is Terrapin, based out of Athens, Georgia; the beer is Rye Squared. And it was delicious.
Rye Squared is a double rye pale ale–that is, a highly-hopped pale squared with a healthy tempering of rye (also squared). The pale (and, in particular, the IPA) is a genre I am learning to appreciate, but am still a bit wary of, so I have been trying to come at it through its variants.
The beer pours a coppery-red in color; the flavor is an attenuated IPA, an IPA held in check with a health dose of toasty grain sweetness. So although the piney, citrus notes of the best hops come through with less assertiveness than in your standard Northwest IPA, I didn’t feel that there was anything lacking in the presentation. The goal was never simply bitter, but balance and flavor.
Additionally, the beer handled a Willy Wonka trick quite well, shifting in the latter half to a sweeter, rounder, fuller-bodied, malty brew. The relatively high alcohol (8.5 or 9.5%, as their website lists both) plays a supporting role, but never breaks through and distracts from the flavor. As a result, Rye Squared came across as almost sessionable–a dangerous, tempting proposition that the sane should reject.
I don’t think Terrapin beers will ever make their way up to the Pacific Northwest, and if they do, I wonder what sort of success they would meet with (their Hopsecutioner, while nicely hopped, would fall far short of what we’d expect from a beer named “Hopsecutioner”). I couldn’t imagine their Rye Squared would not find success here, though.
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