Abruzzi Rye Porter
New Belgium Brewing Company

 

neat beer on paper, not bad at all in execution, but a little safe, which has sort of been a thing for them of late. this is brewed with a real cool heritage rye from what i understand, grown in colorado. very cool to resurrect something like this, and i like the agricultural element, that is the interesting part of this one. it looks more like a conventional brown ale than a porter, without a ton of dark grain color or depth, it looks almost cut with water, not as robust as hoped for, but the rye does stand out pretty well in the flavor, so if the reason for keeping the heavy roast out was to showcase the unique and special rye, i am more or less fine with the decision. it has a cool earthy flavor, not the dusty pepper spice complexion we are used to from conventional pale rye malt, i do get that its different, almost more toasted and soil-esque. not a ton of body here, the beer seems almost lame for such a cool ingredient, but i find myself liking it just the same. i hope they come back to this rye for some more adventurous recipes, i think it would be well suited to a number of styles. nice to see them sourcing these kinds of ingredients.