None The Ryeser
Abandon Brewing Co.

Had on tap at Jack's - Sodus Point. Nice well made rye PA.

 

 

Not my favorite beer. Bland and dull

 

 

 

 

 

 

This brew was served off the growler line at Nathaniel Square Corner Store in Rochester, New York into a generic tasting glass. It gave off a rusty brown-brick coloring, holding a one and a half finger tall head of caramel foam. This retained well, bubbling off into fishnet lacing around the glass. A definite haze cut clarity, as did the depth of coloring, but no sediment was noted. Carbonation appeared to be active. The aroma gave raw barley, caramel and light coffee maltiness, cooked rye metallics, walnut and chestnut oiliness, musk, mild buttery diacetyls, sea salt, light cloven phenols, chintzy Belgian yeast dustiness, pear, browned apples, and hot molasses. Our first impression is that the flavoring is a bit more watered through than we would have hoped. As we sipped, the taste began with carrot and parsnip vegetals, gingerbread cookie sweetness, chalk, curious cedar woodiness, browned twigs, plastic phenols, distant buttery diacetyls, dried straw base, rye grit, and caramel malt cloy. The middle cut through with light grassy and oily citric hoppiness, biting Belgian yeast, fermented strawberry jam, harsh metallics, amber and caramel maltiness, mineral water, cactus meatiness, aloe, and Burgundy wine tannins. The end came through with continued vegetals metallics, vegetable stock, rich caramel and rye maltiness, general grainy toast and roast, sweaty saltiness, taffy, marshmallow sugars, and gritty grassy hoppiness. The aftertaste breathed of newspaper, tannic teas, mineral and earthy soil twang, green and browed grassiness, rye metallic toast, microfiber clothiness, strawberry and cantaloupe fruitiness, greasy potato hash, ale yeastiness, and wash of watered pale, amber, and caramel maltiness. The body was consistently medium, and the carbonation was slightly over medium. Each sip came up a bit light on froth, foam, cream, zip, pop, and glug. The mouth was left cooled and brushed with quick astringent chalkiness. The abv was appropriate, and the beer drank back easily enough.

Overall, the most enjoyable aspect of this beer was its aroma. This gave a nice robustness of malt and residual rich sweetness to blend, making for an inviting brew. The following flavor, however, was rather muted. This has got to be our first brew of the tasting, otherwise it would get washed out by whatever followed. The taste does hit you nicely enough at first, but it even tends to wash itself out and your buds quickly acclimate to it. The rye is nice and, at times, harshly metallic as it often is, and the grain bill complements it nicely, while still allowing it to shine. With the depth of grain this came across as more of an amber, but does seem mildly Belgian given that yeastiness. That said, there was nothing really brightly offensive about it. As always, we love a good local brew, with wonderful locally sourced ingredients, but we’ll have to search a bit more deeply into their stock to find what this brewery really has to offer.

 

On tap at Abandon Brewing in Penn Yan, NY.

This one pours a light amber-ish orange, with a small head and not much lacing.

This smells like light dusty rye, clovey yeast, and pear.

This is decent, but again, like most Abandon beers, a little boring and not super expressive. The rye is a nice tough, but feels a little wet and oily, and a bit metallic. The other flavors in the beer aren't strong enough to knock out some of those off flavors.

This is light bodied, crisp, with a normal level of carbonation.

This needs a bit of work for sure. It could be way cleaner.

Poured a deep and hazy copper hue with a one finger foamy white head. There was good retention and lacing.

The smell featured trace esters and a mild rye spice.

The taste was likewise subtle with a soft sweetness and little in the way of esters.

The mouthfeel was toward the lighter side of the style.

Overall an understated Belgian ale. Could benefit from a bit of amplification.