Across The Nation Red Rivers Of Rye
Central City Brewers + Distillers

Can: Poured a clear amber color ale with a medium size foamy head with light retention and not much lacing. Aroma of light oak flavours with some cherry and Brett notes. Taste is a somewhat messy mix of light cherry and Brett notes with some grainy malt notes. Body is about average with medium carbonation. Messy and short on complexities.

 

 

 

Collaboration Blindman Brewing, canned: Slightly veiled dark golden color, almost amber, with very low activity. Light creamy beige 1 finger head, lasting around 2 minutes, okay swirl reaction and lacing. Flavors of cranberries/strawberries, red ale spices, light roast, bready, toffee, Belgian/Wild yeast, sweet barley and rye, with floral and herbal hops. Slick and oily medium body with a soft crisp. Light to medium strength finish, moderately sour and a bit leafy, some straw and corn, with very faint barnyard (cheesy) elements. Good freshness. Cross red ale and Saison but overly accessible. A weird mix that I think don't fit, though still overall a decent quality craft.

 

355 mL can from the LCBO, included in their Across the Nation Collaboration (Out West) mixed pack; dated Apr 6 2018 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a relatively clear, deep orange-amber colour, giving rise to one fat finger of frothy, smoker's-teeth-yellow tinged head that steadily dissipates over the next 3-5 minutes. A creamy collar and thin cap remain in place, along with a narrow band of even lacing. Very light sourness on the nose, which comes through alongside notes of bubble gum, cherry, yeast-derived spiciness, butterscotch sweetness, earthy hops and hints of rye bread. Generally inoffensive, but still smells a little, um, odd.

That theme carries over into the flavour profile - there's too much going on, so certain aspects seem to clash with one another. It starts off fruity and malt-forward, with bready sweetness and mild rye grain spiciness paired up with hints of cherry, bubble gum and stone fruit. Rye persists through to the finish, where some earthy, dirty, herbal hop bitterness asserts itself in the face of some (very restrained) funk and tartness. Medium-light in body, with low-ish carbonation levels that present little resistance, resulting in a soft, smooth, slightly slick mouthfeel. Drinkability is pretty low, to be honest.

Final Grade: 3.39, a serviceable B-. Blindman's Red Rivers of Rye was a noble attempt - and truthfully, I do love me some rye beer - but this one just didn't come together. While brews will occasionally grow on me over the course of a glass, this was one of those (much rarer) instances where I grew to dislike the brew more as I sipped my way into it - there's just a lack of cohesion between all of the disparate flavours. The earthy hop character and rye grain spiciness in particular, do not work well alongside the tart, fruitier elements. I managed to finish this can without a struggle, but it's not something I'd have much interest in trying again.

Just a taste. Not my thing.

 

 

 

 

Clear chestnut brown with a modest head. Spicy, malty nose. Medium malt body. Crisp, not funky. Some spiciness from the rye.

355ml can, part of the 2018 Across the Nation collaboration pack with 12 different Canadian breweries, one from each province and territory. This one involves Alberta's Blindman Brewing, and is a Red Rye Sour Saison.

This beer pours a clear, medium bronzed amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and mildly fizzy tan head, which leaves some dissolving ice shelf profile lace around the glass as it genially recedes.

It smells of bready and doughy cereal malt, a further rye whisky graininess (sans the heat), ethereal earthy spice, some estery yeastiness, faint bruised pome fruity notes, and very tame leafy, herbal, and floral noble hop bitters. The taste is grainy and gritty pale malt, more crackery rye grains, some strange sour and musty fruitiness, gently phenolic yeast, still hard to pin down spices, and more understated earthy, leafy, and musky floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite meek in its quotidian frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and mostly smooth, I suppose, as perhaps a wee clamminess evolves as this things warms up a tad. It finishes off-dry, the mixed malt, yeast, and still weird-ass fruitiness sort of climbing over each other.

Overall - this is another example of too many cooks spoil the broth, at least ingredient-wise. It's kind of spicy rye ale meets spicy Saison, but the joining is less than amenable. I'm sure there will be big fans of this, but sadly, I will not be counted among them.

The first can to come out of this year’s Across Canada collaboration, and it’s from my favorite local brewery, Blindman. This is an extremely interesting beer - I wasn’t completely sure how to classify it, but it is definitely a saison at heart. The rye spice and lactic twang add some interesting twists to the flavor profile, but the core spice that defines a saison is what lingers. Overall, this is a creative and extremely well crafted beer.