Happiest Hour Exploration Project - We Will Meet Again Rye India Pale Ale
Wild Heaven Beer

We have been getting limited distro from this brewery for a little while & I decided to make them the next horizontal for The CANQuest (tm). I hope that they CANtinue to send their beers our way!

From the CAN: "Happiest Hour Exploration Project - We Will Meet Again Rye India Pale Ale"; "Rye IPA brewed with El Dorado hops."; "Tasting Notes: Stone Fruit, Spicy, Dry".

Of the ones that came to us, this was the one that I was most CANxious to try. The other one that I would really like to score is their Barn Burner Farmhouse Gräzer since the two flavors that I really have an affinity for are rye, especially in whiskey, and smoked beers! The site's style guide for this one is easy - it must have an appreciable amount of rye in its malt bill. Fair dinkum! How will I gauge this? By its spiciness, mentioned by them in their Tasting Notes. Easy, peasy, Japanesy, lemon squeezy!

I Crack!ed open the vent to a bit of fanfare as I got a spritz across my fingertips since it was a brimful craft CAN. 8=O I CANtinued with a slow, gentle C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass. It burst forth with a massive two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, bone-white head with excellent retention, leaving a load of sticky lacing in its wake. Color was Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 - 5) with NE-quality clarity, leading to an impromptu visit from The Gelt Gang of Midas, Mammon & Croesus, all CANmoring for a taste. Nose had a fruity, spicy quality, like peaches & black pepper. 8=O The "stone fruit" mentioned in the Tasting Notes was from the use of El Dorado hops, which was an interesting choice, but the rye presence was unmistakable. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was fruity, adding a tropical quality of papaya and guava to the peach (& pear), but the black pepper spiciness of the rye was overlain on all of it.

Now, I was curious about the malt bill. When I first learned about Rye Beers, I was told that 20% was the max as it is VERY soluble & will become a glutinous, gelatinous mess in the kettle, requiring swift cleaning so as to not ruin the kettle for future use. In fact, I met a few homebrewers who, brewing for the final time on a system that was being replaced, made a Rye Ale of almost ALL Rye. They did not bother with cleaning & disposed of the kettle acCANdingly. 8=O The taste knocked my socks off.

This beer was NOT that intense, but it was certainly Rye malt-driven, which is the real standard for/in the style. Rye kind of fell out of popularity for a time, which is sad to me as a Pennsylvanian since The Whiskey Rebellion fought here, was sparked by taxation on the growing of rye, a hearty grain that would grow in the cold, rocky hills of central & western PA when nothing else took 'hold. Once Rye Whiskey beCAN to make a comeback, Rye beers quickly followed suit. Most of my home's liquor cabinet is Rye whiskey. In fact, it was tough for me NOT to accompany this beer with a wee measure of some from my collection.

This beer was a revelation for me. I was CANurious as to how El Dorado hops would work in a Rye IPA. The answer is "VERY well, thank you!" I really liked the softness of the fruit flavor(s) & how they acCANponied, rather than overpowering or being overpowered by the rye spiciness. That said, this beer had a VERY dry finish! Phew. Gaspingly dry! I had to use my asthma inhaler at one point. This is my kind of beer! YMMV.