Mile High Rye
Flyers Restaurant And Brewery

 

On tap at the brewpub where this is a current seasonal. The waitress came up with the brewery specs sheet, which calls this "Mile High Summer Rye." Something like a Pale Ale, but brewed with 40% malted rye along with Mt. Hood and Goldings hops.

Handsome brown-tinged amber in the pint shaker. Pleasant tingly carbonation. The grainy rye taste is quite distinctive but not overbearing. This is really tangy with something like a resiny bitterness, yet extremely drinkable. Mellow malt flavors with that scratchy grainy edge. Just bitter enough with some nice hop aromatics.

Another big winner from the surprising Flyers. Definitely one of the best rye brews I have enjoyed. I'm getting to be a big fan of the style, and I was surprised they could use such a large percentage of rye and come up with such a light and mellow brew.

Full disclosure: I had this from a sample bottle given to me by a sales rep for the local distributor for Flyers. I don't think this will be available in bottles to the general public.

Poured into straight pint glass. Poured an attractive clean, clear copper-gold color with a bit over 1/4 inch of light tan head that had good retention and moderate lacing.

The aroma had a nice grain foundation, the Rye was a bit lighter than I would have liked, and was a bit on the sweet side. A light bit of floral hops added some contrast to the malt bill. On the tongue, the hops came across a bit sharper and brighter, which made a good counter-point to the malt, which, again was a bit sweeter than I would have liked.

The body was nicely medium, smooth and even, wit a semi-dry finish. Drinkability was pretty good, I could see knocking off a growler at a cookout without any trouble. Overall, a pretty nice little brew. Worth trying if you see it.