Better late than never, I always say.
The last time I reviewed a beer by Madison’s Giant Jones was back in March when I gave the Baltic Porter they brewed with their neighbors down the street, Working Draft Beer Co., a spin. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly Baltic Portery to me.
“No big shakes,” I thought to myself. “After all, they now have a beer brewed with the best grain ever to sprout from the ground out. I will follow this up with their ryewine shortly and that will surely be good.”
Well, that was the plan.
I eventually got my hands on the ryewine that Giant Jones brewed with then rather new Starkweather Brewing in late March. “It’s too warm for a ryewine today,” I’d say. “When another cold day comes around, I’ll pop that bottle open.”
You know what they say about the best laid plans…
Cold nights never arrived or I just wasn’t in the mood for a ryewine when there was a chill in the air or I simply had some excuse I cannot recall. The upshot is that, before I knew it, everything was all verdant outside and it had gotten warm so I put my small stash on the door of the refrigerator for safekeeping.
“Don’t you worry,” I told the bottle reassuringly, “I’ll see you again come the autumn.” And, just as it does every year, the autumn came and I made good on my promise one chilly night recently.
It says here that Germany, Poland, and Russia account for the bulk of the world's annual rye production. (Furthermore, Germany only grew more wheat than rye in 1957. Old habits die hard, I guess.) Now, I have German and Polish blood so I suppose it’s little surprise that I love rye.
Someone else who loves rye is (or was?) Peter Schieberle. A food scientist of some stripe, apparently, he has co-authored papers such as “Potent odorants of rye bread crust-differences from the crumb and from wheat bread crust” and “Quantitation of odor-active compounds in rye flour and rye sourdough using stable isotope dilution assays”.
What I gather from the abstracts of these papers is that some of the more potent contributors to rye’s flavor are octenone which offers a mushroom-like taste, methional’s cooked potato flavor, and the green, fatty flavor of nonenal.
Huh. The More You Know*.
The crack beer reporter of our alt-weekly Isthmus, Robin Shepard, broke the news in early November that Giant Jones would soon have a new bottling machine and more brewing capacity which will allow them to distribute to more areas around the state. Considering all of their beers are big, potent brews made from certified organic ingredients and that they seem to offer only 1 IPA, it’s heartening to see them expanding.
My pour was graced with only a small, white head of foam and it was not keen on sticking around very long. The beer was a lovely golden hue with a slight haze to it. There were a few bubbles to be seen inside. It smelled strongly of honey with another floral scent as well. Adding to the sweetness component was a hint of caramel. In opposition were spicy hops, the delicious & nutritious rye, and that astringent boozy smell. (This stuff is 10.4% A.B.V.)
Mild carbonation did its best against a medium-heavy body that had a strong honeyed flavor to it. Those spicy hops were rather prominent on the tongue and, when combined with the rye, made a nice, sharp riposte to the sweetness. A boozy heat was present too. On the finish those hops really came to the fore with a solid bitterness and dryness. That boozy heat lingered a bit as some of the honey flavor stuck to my tongue.
Man, this was really good stuff. It was very smooth and that silky mouthfeel only increased as the beer warmed. The brewers did everything perfectly to keep the malt sweetness in check as it never got cloying to my taste and they kept the body rather light. I was expecting something richer, chewier so this was surprising. Sweet but spicy.
Junk food pairing: pair this ryewine with a bag of Annie's Extra Cheesy Cheddar Smile Puffs. You will keep the organic theme going and all of that extra cheese will make a nice, mellow counterpoint to the beer's sharp hop and alcohol flavors.
No comments:
Post a Comment