The Camera Rye: Choice Rye Lager by Pipeworks Brewing Co.

The other day I had a conversation with a friend of mine about bread. We discussed the art and science of making it and both of us admitted to lacking the requisite abilities to make a good loaf of the Staff of Life. At one point I opined that rye bread is the tastiest and my friend agreed. Knowing that I had fellow ryeophile was heartening.

My love of the grain borders on the monomaniacal though I am developing a love for buckwheat. Regardless, I seek out rye bread and Gardetto's rye chips, was near ecstatic upon discovering that Origin Breads here in Madison offers a Sourdough Rye Dark Chocolate Brownie, and still lament years after the fact that Nabisco discontinued their rye Triscuits and that Snyder's did the same with their Pumpernickel & Onion pretzels. Plus I buy any beer with rye that isn't an IPA.

My M.O. was on full display back in January at the Binny's in Schaumburg - this was the stop where I found that Viking beer from Old Irving Brewing - when I spied Pipeworks' rye lager. What luck! A couple months previously at a Binny's I had found Phase Three's Rye Lager and then I find another. Gambrinus was truly smiling down upon me.

With two varieties of Rauchbier, a Helles, and that Pastrami on Rye beer with both rye and smoked malts, the venerable Chicago brewery was already a favorite but a rye lager put Pipeworks into my even gooder graces. They understand that beer is, metaphysically speaking, about fermenting sugars culled from grains and not about hops that taste like tropical fruits.

 

I really lucked out as I was able to capture the lovely off-white head that topped my glass in a photograph for a change. It sat atop the clear, amber liquid for a good while. A modicum of bubbles were to be seen inside. The aroma was positively delightful with the malts giving spicy, earthy rye and bready notes while the hops contributed green, hay-like smells. Either there was no canned/best by date on the can or there was one but in a cryptic code instead of a date but my guess is that my 4-pack was not old as this stuff just smelled fresh to my nose.

 

My first sip revealed a medium-light body with a healthy fizziness. The rye contributed its lovely earthy-spicy flavor while the barley had a cracker taste. I also detected a slight caramel sweetness. The hops seemed to add a peppery flavor. All the malt flavors lingered only briefly after swallowing as the spicy hops offered a medium level of bitterness and a fairly dry denouement.

 

For once we have some truth in advertising. Pipeworks wasn't lying when they named this beer "Choice" because this is one toothsome brew. The restrained sweetness allowed the piquant rye flavor to shine. And credit to the hops as well with their complementary spiciness that was the perfect balance to the grains and made for a refreshing finish to boot.

 

Junk food pairing: You can't go wrong by pairing this fine rye lager with a bag of Herr's Cheddar Horseradish potato chips and a tub of Helluva Good!'s Bacon Horseradish dip.

Rye lager? Make it so.: Rye Lager by Phase Three Brewing Co.

Years ago my annual trek to Chicago TARDIS down in lovely Lombard, Illinois meant a visit at Binny's where I'd eagerly snatch up some Hoss, a rye Märzeny kind of brew from Denver's Great Divide. At some point, that beer, quite unsurprisingly, stopped gracing Binny's shelves in the fall when I was there. This made me sad because this autumnal pilgrimage had become a tradition and Hoss was (is?) a great beer. Oh well. All good things and whatnot. As time wore on, I became inured to being rye lager-less as the winter solstice approached.

Until this year.

Chicagoland has many a brewery which can make perusing the local beer shelves at Binny's something of a chore because a lot of breweries means a lot of IPAs. As in a number that feels like it approaches infinity. There's a mesmerizing quality to scanning the shelves as the letters fly by...I-P-A. Soon every beer looks to be an IPA. And so it was last month. Until I ran across Phase Three's Rye Lager. Could it really be? The IPAs beneath and above and to either side beckoned me.

"Come taste of our faux tropical fruit..."

I felt like Captain Picard in that Star Trek: The Next Generation episode where he's being tortured.

"There are four-packs of rye lager!" I roared back in defiance of the Citra siren calls.

Shaking off my hypnotic haze, I found that indeed there were four-packs of rye lager staring back at me from the shelf. I already had two Rauchbiers, a Dovetail flavor I'd never had, plus multiple brews from abroad. Did I really need more beer?

Yes!

Phase Three is a brewery in Lake Zurich, Illinois, a northwestern suburb of Chicago. I have no doubt seen their brews before but don't recall ever having tasted any of them. Without meaning to sound overly cynical, I admit to tempering my expectations. There were a lot of Phase Three IPAs on the shelf too so could they pull off a decent lager?

Luck was on my side and I managed to capture one of my pours where there is some head. My glass was happy to have a lot of the light tan foam and, thankfully, it stuck around a while. The brew was a lovely clear amber and I saw a fair number of bubbles inside. No haze; a good start. My luck continued as I took a whiff and smelled grains: a bit of bread, at first, and then some earthy rye. A berry-like fruitiness followed as did some herbal hoppiness.

A medium-light body held a firm fizziness. My initial sips were malt madness with bready and doughy flavors complemented by that earthy-spicy rye goodness. The hops stayed below the fray but I could taste their herbal tentacles weaving themselves between and among all those malt flavors. The rye and a touch of malty sweetness lingered on the finish but eventually ceded to the hops which took on a deliciously spicy aspect. Fizz and hops united for a mellow dryness accompanied by a gentle bitter bite .

What a wonderful surprise. I had my doubts about what appeared to be another IPA factory dipping its toes into the lager waters but Phase Three meant business. For me, this was an easy drinker despite being 6.6% A.B.V. and I had a hard time sitting there with a rye lager in front of me and not pouring it down my maw. The rye flavor was great and benefited from the beer not being particularly sweet. Plus the hops complemented the malt flavors perfectly and I appreciated how they orchestrated a refreshingly zesty finish.

I hope Phase Three brews this again next year so that rye lager returns as an autumn tradition.

Junk food pairing: Pair P3's Rye Lager with a big bag of Mike's Hot Honey potato chips from Utz. (Utz's Mike's Hot Honey potato chips?) The mild sweetness from the honey and potatoes will complement the rye perfectly. These chips don't burn like the fires of Hell but that little bit of heat goes well with the hops and really accentuates their peppery taste on the finish.