Ringneck Chief's Rye Ale
The Brew Kettle Taproom & Smokehouse / Production Works

 

An interesting rye ale - Refreshing for the summer

 

 

Had this on 2011-09-22 in Lynchburg, VA.

A - Very mildly hazy golden amber with a 3-finger white head that quickly drops to 1-finger. Moderate lacing.

S - Fairly mild aroma of rye grain, caramel and hop floral.

T - Sweet/sour/spicy rye malt and a touch of caramel. Some grapefruit zest bitterness comes in pretty quickly and cuts through the sweetness. It's not over-the-top like a strong IPA. The hop flavors are a bit one-dimensional. The flavor isn't bowling me over.

M - Medium body and light-medium carbonation. It's mildly oily and prickly.

O - This is a respectable brew and I'm glad to have tried it. We'd stopped at the brewery to get some White Rajah but alas, they were out.

A. Poured a sudsy 2 and 1/2 fingers of head over the hazy dirty straw body. Not a whole lot of carbonation rising to the top. Retained about a half finger of head, not much going on in the lacing department.

S. I smell mainly rye and floral hops, but there is a hint of malt and spice.

T. Sweet caramel malt is in the forefront with this one, but it quickly gives way to a yummy spiced rye bread flavor which is sprinkled with very garden-fresh tasting hops.

M. Easy going. Light bodied and low carbonated. Slightly dry and leaves a bit of bitter behind in an aftertaste comprised of bitter hop and rye bread.

On tap at Brew Works.

Pours a clear golden color with a light head and a touch of spotty lacing as it makes its way down. The nose is pretty nice with a bit of light citrus. Good hop presence. The flavor is not quite as plentiful, still offering some orange and other citrus, but doesn't have the bite of the nose. Some spicy rye in there as well, along with a floral character in the midpalate. Light body and a good finishing bitterness. A solid brew.

Out of a bomber and into my shaker glass. Chief's Rye appears a mildly hazed amber color with about an inch of fluffy bone white head. A bit spicy, as you would expect from a rye beer, as well as notes of citrus fruits, some caramel. Medium in both body and carbonation with a somewhat clean finish. Not much alcohol to speak of. The bomber was belly up in no time.

22oz. bomber into goblet on 5/6/09.

A - Poured a slightly hazy golden/rusty amber body with light carbonation and half a finger of white head that reduced to a patchy film and left some spotty lace around the glass.

S - Subtle nose with a light floral and perfumy hop aroma, sweet caramel malt, a mild rye presence and some alcohol notes.

T - Starts off sweet and malty with caramel notes, followed by a touch of alcohol in the middle. Perfumy and floral hop attributes comprise the backend with a dry rye presence following close behind. Hop character really builds up in the finish.

M - Medium body with a syrupy, slightly oily texture and very soft carbonation. Finish is dry with a lingering bitterness on the palate.

D - Pretty solid rye beer that actually borders IPA territory. Good stuff... and pretty inexpensive for a bomber. I think this was like four bucks and change at The Bre Kettle!

22 oz. bomber bottle with a white homemade label that has the bust of a ringneck looking up to the sky. Below the ringneck is the name of the beer in bold red letters and the address of the Brew Kettle. The only other thing on the label is the Government warning and that's off to the far left.

When poured into a Sly Imperial pint glass, this Rye Ale was a solid amber color with a few minor gold highlights along the sides and at the bottom of the beer. Sitting on top of this amber brew was a creamy 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch head of white foam. This creamy head of foam had excellent slow retention that left behind a skim of white foam and quite a few small blots of white lace.

Chief's Rye Ale had a stand up straight nice aroma of malted rye, a hint of roasted nuts, a spatter of juicy fruits, a gentle whiff of grapefruit, and a touch of citrus hops at the finish line.

While the aroma of the malted rye was light to mild, it was the taste that increased the amount of the malted rye. There wasn't much in the taste beside the malted rye. Hiding behind the rye was a dash of black pepper, a gentle touch of juicy fruits, a hint of dry yeast, and then this rye ale ends with the taste of dried peppery hops.

I thought this beer was going to be a light bodied beer, but I quickly found out that it was more of a medium bodied beer. The aftertaste to this beer was dry and of course, rye based. The aftertaste was just malted rye with a hint of dry yeast and dry peppery hops.

This beer didn't blow me away, but I don't think it was meant to do that. It was instead a really good rye beer. Chief's Rye is worth a shot if you can get it on tap or in a bottle.

I like rye beers and I like the Brew Kettle both quite a bit, so ordering this beer was an obvious choice for me. And it was not as good as say a Red's Rye, but it was still pretty tasty. It offered the slightly "scratchy" mouthfeel I associate with Rye beers, a rye flavor, and some nice hop notes that I also tend to find in rye beers. Appearance was not so special - a little less color than I might have expected, but a brilliantly clear body with a medium amount of head. Aroma was rye and hops. Flavor as noted above. Mouthfeel a touch thin.

Not the best rye-beer I have ever had, but recommendable nonetheless.

I had this on tap at the Brew Kettle in Strongsville.

Draft at The Brew Kettle.

Pours a clear copper color with an average creamy off-white head that mostly lasted with excellent lacing. Moderate malt, rye and hop aroma. Medium body with a slick texture and lively carbonation. Medium bittersweet flavor with a medium bitter finish of moderate duration.

My expectations where met.

Reviewed on 7/26/08. Bottle shared by goldtwins. Pours orange with a small tan head that leaves nice lacing. Aroma of pine and citrus hops and some rye. Initially this beer is a bit harsh with an odd alcohol/rye combo, but it gets better as it warms and the hops come out a little. Bitter finish with some wheat cracker. Smells better than it tastes. I'd like more rye though. Ok-ish beer, but it just doesn't seem well-constructed.
6/4/6/3/11 (3.0/5)

I had this on tap at the Brewkettle brewpub and smokehouse in Strongville, OH. Served cold in a standard pint.

A - Slightly tarnished gold w/ a thick white head. The lace sticks in a film and the clarity is very good.

S - slightly vegetal, malt and spice in the nose w/ gentle cream scent -subtle aroma of alcohol complements the ale

M - Hoppy w/ rye spice gentle creaminess w/ moderately full carbonation

T - The hops are equalled in the flavor to the spice of the rye w/ a hint of ale fruitiness and grainy taste w/ dry malt crisp taste. Almost a rye Ipa, but only the strength of a pale , w/ great hop flavor and evidently moderate rye implementation. Pleasant clean taste w/ nice malt balance.

D - Very quaffable, fine rye. Kudos to Ringneck for putting out a very tasty rye beer w/ balance this is very worthy, I can't wait to try the bottled version.

Sample at the brewpub: Pours a light orange-amber color with a thin light beige head, and thin rings of lacing. The aroma consists of hops and rye. Medium, soft body, with a flavorful mix of hops, rye and citrus. The finish is hoppy with hints of citrus and nuts lingering. Pretty good all around.

Clear somewhat lifeless looking with hardly any head. Seems to be a proponent of a bad pour but I could be wrong.

Nose is much better. Nice floral,rye, hoppy aromas. A light malt sits behind with big juicy hints of grapefruit..

What an odd beer. Huge caramel malt blast turns into extremely baitter resiny hops. Slightly unbalanced. Tons going on in this beer. Very complex. Mouthfeel is big rich and bitter. A bit of deacetly on the ending. Overall a beer well worth trying.

My favorite Ringneck Brewery Ale, BY FAR. I have tried about a dozen of their selections since finding this treasure on the west side oif Cleveland (you need to go there if visiting, as well as a Great Lakes experience).
Rye scented beauty in a glass. They never have bombers availible, try a growler, if you can. I love this stuff. Alcohol permeates a bit, though not
irritating. A very unique offering. Only at brewhouse( thats the Brew Kettle in cleveland(Strongsville, suburb, if you did'nt know):

http://www.thebrewkettle.com/

Very good Ale. It appeared like any other ale and smelled same. Mouthfeel was just like every other beer. Thats were similarities ended.

This was a very complex tasting ale. I would say it had a very fruity flavor, but the fruit was dumbed by the very alchoholic texture. It seemed an above average drinker and I'm not a big fan of Rye ales, but I'll consider this one. Above average beer from Ringneck.

This is a clear golden amber with a white head that leaves nice lacing. There's a moderate amount of fresh hops in the aroma. The hops are just as juicy here as they are in the pale ale and in the Old 21 Imperial IPA. Definite rye bread flavor. Very soft palate.