Lee Hill Series Vol. 17 - Sazerac Style Rye Ale
Upslope Brewing Company - Lee Hill

This basically combines beer and sazerac flavors, but its impossible to figure out what that means until you try it. Very unique.

 

 

Hazy light brown colored ale with a a near nonexistent white head.

I can smell this from a distance. Smells fruity and herbal. Scents of tea, licorice and mint. Strong scent of rye. Smells fairly spicy. Lesser scent of cherry and it does smell a little like Dr. Pepper. Lesser scents of leather and Tobacco. Scent of anise gets stronger as it warms.

Starts out sweet and thick with a strong taste of malt syrup. Tastes of tea and orange peel. Taste of licorice/star anise. Taste of Earl Grey Tea. Mild bitterness. Certainly a unique tasting beer.

Mouthfeel is thick.

Overall a strange yet tasty beer.

Deep, brownish-orange body with a thick, sticky head; sheets of lacing clinging to the glass. Spicy, herbal nose (must be the absinthe!); licorice; spearmint. Incredible flavors of bourbon and anise; spicy rye; notes of sweetness with some caramel and brown sugar. Heavy body; thick, chewy, sticky; low attenuation with the sugars for body; some dryness balancing the dull sweetness.

An incredible rye ale aged in Leopold Brothers rye whiskey barrels and also brewed with honey and aged in absinthe (barrels? - the can labeling is a bit confusing on this). Decadently rich and inviting with immense flavor depth and complexity. Truly unique yet very approachable.

Canned 9/4/18, drank 10/20/2018. The can is a 19.2 oz stovepipe can, a bit much for me especially since I can't seal it back up with a cork or cap like I can a bottle, but it is a really nice can and label with a lot of information on it.

Noticeable carbonation but no head whatsoever, hardly any bubbles around the glass wall, drinking does show some very fine, short-lived lacing. Super clear, somewhat dark amber with bright golden honey highlights in the first pour; cloudy, muddier, brownish amber in the last pour that brightens to a cloudy tan or butterscotch cream when held up to a light.

The aroma and flavor were very polarizing for me.
Aroma at its worst, when I first opened the can (cellar temperature): All rye and wheat bread loaded with caraway, pastis, fennel, hints of some other spirit underneath. Very straightforward, simple anise bomb that was difficult to drink, as if I was poured a rye beer then someone dumped a shot of pastis into it.

Aroma at its best, however, after I left it in the fridge and came back to it a couple hours later, it had a lot of great Sazerac aromas: Absinthe is present and shows up first and foremost but doesn't overpower the whiskey-infused rye ale and still-fermenting orange blossom mead-y aromas. Rye bread and caraway, some fennel, slight black pepper, sourdough, light licorice (black and cherry), faint herbal and wood (aspen, wormwood, peach, rosemary). Very pleasant.

Flavor was much better on the second go around as well: Straight up Sazerac rye ale up front starting with a twisted orange peel rubbed around the glass and a very herbal but diluted absinthe-infused rye whiskey, then it transitions smoothly into great rye ale flavors, more herbs (thyme, rosemary, slight basil, sage), orange zest, soursough rye bread with honey. The yeasty, fruity honey really comes through, the rye whiskey comes through, some of the barrel char pokes out in the aftertaste, and throughout the entire ride the beer still comes across as a big rye ale. Some of the oak barrel comes across as bittersweet cocoa or carob chips. Fantastic for me.

Mouthfeel was pretty soft, fluffy carbonation, great for this beer. Leans to the sweet side but has plenty of bitterness from the absinthe and barrels along with all that herbal and spicy rye character to balance it out.

Slightly confusing with how my first pour went, but I'll chalk it up to being a fluke, maybe it mingled strangely with something I had for breakfast. Overall I really loved it, a smidgen less time in the absinthe barrels is the only thing I would change about it if I could. Well, that and to brew it again.