Three Ryes Men - Apple Pie version
Reuben's Brews

 

Poured into a Reuben's Brew small snifter. Pours a dark, lightly brownish red orange with a thin, light khaki that persists and grows a bit over time. Aroma of caramel malt, apple cider, raisins, bourbon, mild citrus and a little oaky vanilla; there was fresh apple juice character in the pour that is somewhat more muted in the glass aroma. Flavor follows, with dry caramel malt, apples, apple skins, bourbon, raisins, a touch of rye tartness, vanilla, cinnamon, wisps of cocoa and a touch of hop bitterness. Medium bodied with luxurious moderate creaminess. This is wow barleywine. The base Three Ryes Men had always been a favorite of mine and this apple variant is stellar in it's apple character; as noted, I was getting fresh apple esters in the pour, although the apple is more integrated in the aroma in the glass and the taste. Cinnamon and a wonderful creamy mouthfeel do evoke apple pie. Most of the flavor is apple, caramel and bourbon, but there is an odd, but welcome faint chocolate that teases during the taste. A remarkable barleywine that I sincerely wish I had bought another bottle of when I had the chance. Hopefully they will produce this again. I usually wait 2 years on big barleywines, but this one kept calling to me and I did want to get whatever apple character it had to be fresh and I was well rewarded. This may be the best thing I've had from Reuben's and that's a high bar. Kudos to them.

On tap at Belmont Station yesterday.

The beer pours a murky dark brown color with decent head retention and light lacing. The beer looks rather viscous, but really doesn't come across that way on the palate. On the nose, this is a spice bomb, but with lots of warming bourbon and rye as well. Frankly, it smells very similar to the regular three ryes men version, and I'm not picking up much in the way of apple pie. That still makes for a pretty impressive aroma profile (this beer smells great). On the palate though, this is spectacular. The flavor profile generally replicates the nose in this moderately sweet beer, but with noticeable apple pie flavor on the finish. Otherwise, there's considerable brown sugar, baked apple, cinnamon, vanilla, light chocolate and bourbon. I have no idea how the brewer managed to accomplish the apple pie flavor, but it's quite prominent. Mouthfeel is fairly full otherwise, with a long, moderately sweet, spice filled finish. Alcohol is very well integrated into the the flavor profile. You can tell it's up there a bit, but there's no heat or a sharp edge anywhere in this well crafted beer. It would be easy to drink a couple of glasses of this stuff without thinking, which would probably not be a good idea (given the abv.).

Impressive beer. The regular Three Ryes Men is a solid beer, but this really takes it up another notch. One of the best new beers I've tried in some time. Not sure how much of this was made by Reuben's, but even if very limited, felt this beer needed to be added to the data base. It's that special.

11/25/23. Trying a glass on tap at Beermongers today. All I'll say is that I likely underrated this amazing beer.