Mixed Berry Ryeway
Revolution Brewing

Home (Chicago, Illinois) 10/4/20: Revolution Brewing's Mixed Berry Ryeway

Facts are stubborn things: Canned 7/10/20 @20:11:13, refrigerated since purchase and warmed for 10 minutes and counting. 12.4% 12 oz can poured into a Revolution stemless Deep Woods snifter. A rye ale with Raspberry, Blackberry, Boysenberry and Cranberry.

Can notes: A carefully selected blend of Ryeway barrels provides the glossy, oak-rich canvas for a raspberry, blackberry, boysenberry, and cranberry medley bursting with a finely tuned continuum of sweet and tart. Enjoy now or store cold.

Appearance: Dark violet purple pour, bright pink head dissipates within a minute, clear carbonation flows throughout the tasting. Sat beer for 15 minutes to warm before rating aroma and taste. 4.5

Aroma: Sharp sweet and most pleasant berry aroma, raspberry and boysenberry leads, light tartness detected. Syrupy. Bourbon emerges as this warms, smooth, excellent. 4.75

Taste: Very balanced taste, barrel leads. Bourbon, smooth, warm, enjoyable. Light rye lingers in the back. Berries sweet with narrow tartness, raspberries, blackberries. 4.5

Mouthfeel: Thick, rich, syrupy full body. Tart and sweet, bourbon warm and smooth, negligible carbonation on the tongue, sweetness lingers. 4.5

Overall: This is an excellent barrel aged rye stout. Fruit flavors bold and greatly balanced. Hope this comes around again down the road. 4.5

10/4/20 - NBW 11 (NBS 815) WBAYDN 2906

 

 

 

Deep red color, not much head. Nose dominated by berry. Taste also very berry, raspberry and strawberry. Hides 12% very well.

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a deep ruby red with almost no head and no lacing.

The smell is bright berries, chocolate, oak, and whiskey.

The taste has huge notes of raspberries and blackberries with oak and vanilla and a strong rye finish.

The mouthfeel is a bit thinner than expected but it didn't detract.

Overall this is very unique and exceptionally enjoyable.

 

Opaque black at first glance, it's actually hazy dark purple under light, with a short pastel mauve foam head that settles quickly to a more pinkish film before disappearing into a still bordeaux-like surface.

The explosion of berries is absolutely stunning up front. It's almost puckering, yet it's not actually sour. It's such a massive punch of fruit, but in some crazy way tolerable and even cooperative with the ryewine, coming across like fruit leather and that gooey, sticky edge around a just baked strawberry rhubarb pie or blackberry cobbler. It takes a moment to dig deeper, but after a second exhale, deeply luscious nougat and caramel swirl in from the barrel and Ryeway.

Subsequent sips bring out those #life characteristics even more, as dark malty gingersnap, molasses and char are peppered still by super seedy blackberry jam, before coming to an impressively powder dry finish.

This is an adventure that far exceeds any expectations I had. I thought their Strawberry Jacket was a stunning feat, but this is just over the top, in all the best of ways.

 

12 oz. can. Pours deep purple with a pink head. What? Smells of strong berry aroma. Acidic and jammy. Whiskey behind it. Tastes of sweet and sour berries. Whiskey and rye spice. Sweet maltiness. Finishes with lots of rye whiskey. Medium heavy. This is bonkers. And while it is all kinds of stupid, it's really good. A full can becomes a bit much.

 

 

 

 

Canned on 7/10/20

Pours a dense, semi-viscous, jet-purple body capped with a half-finger of ruddy pink foam that fades almost as quickly as it forms to a nonexistent cap, temporary, fuzzy collar, and no lacing clinging to the walls of the glass.

Aroma opens with a boggy array of blackberry and raspberry enveloping softer notes of cocoa, oak, and vanilla across the bouquet; fuller bourbon presence is hinted at intermittently, though a wine-like, tannic grape quality comes to dominate as the beer warms; a dense, thick, and largely fruit-forward bouquet.

Taste shows a rounded, somewhat understated display of bourbon, caramel, brown bread, and vanilla laying a foundation for a dense berry medley, highlighting fresh boysenberry and blackberry upfront as cranberry and raspberry steadily accent; tannic red grape briefly 'pops' over the mid-palate as a dusting of cacao and blackberry mark the finish.

Mouthfeel shows a medium-full body playing off of a stiff, lower-end carbonation dispersing a light prickle along the palate; juicy and delicately tart through the mid-palate, while fading to a mild, tannic acidity into the back end; a syrupy texture builds and briefly threatens to overwhelm the finish, but dries just enough for a more composed close; minimal alcohol presence/warmth lingering.

With the rye ale base all but masked entirely, it's clear the oak and fruit additions are left to make their mark, and while the barrel-aging adds a unique layer, I'm not sure it meshes well enough with the stronger berry profile to feel entirely important to a grander profile; the idea is creative and coherent, and the execution is steady, but the final product can't quite shake the notion of uneasily marrying two disparate elements.