X-Ray Specs
Old Ox Brewery

 

12 oz can at City Tap House. Medium amber pour small thin off white head. Malty aroma with a touch of rye funk. Taste also offer a rich, malty palate, sweet, biiterre and more of the rye notes. Solid.

 

And yet another thanks to the Virginian Minion, Craig.

Burnt orange bordering crimson, X-Ray Specs has a slightly muted look to it. Beers with rye seem to have a tendency to do that, so no bother here. A thin off white cap leaves a smooth and even, light surface coverage and mild spots of lace scattered.

Classic grapefruit, citrus rind, and pine notes are blended with a wollop of that unmistakable rye spice. Grainy, and pungent end.

Yes. This is nice. Following the footsteps of the aroma hot on it's heals, citrus heads the show. There's a touch of Pixie Stix like powdery sweetness, but it's quickly overrun by pine and extra spicy cereal grains.

The light medium bodied beer has just the right amount of carbonation. A sweet start leads into a well bittered end, and the spiciness is well received throughout.

Just another beer to reaffirm my love of the sticky nusance grain. A touch of rye adds that little extra. A generous hand, even better. This could use a little more rye in my opinion, but nonetheless, great beer here. Cheers!

Can (no date):
Having this beer from a can purchased after rating the beer at the brewery. From the can, the rusty color of the beer drained into the glass looking quite clear. In the glass, there is a bit of a haze, a little more than I recall from the brewery version last night. The head builds to a couple of fingers and is a nice light beige with perhaps just a little bit of that rust color seeping in. Lacing is admirable but I'd have thought I'd get more considering how long the head stuck around.

Nose has a certain cedar-like note to the malt - not dominant, but added to the rye toast base. Add in a light spiciness and this beer almost has a winter warmer like feel to it. The can does mention a "brew for cold weather" so perhaps they were going for little bit of a warmer quality within this "red rye IPA."

Taste has a nice toasted malt with a little bit of a blueberry jam note. The spice of the rye and perhaps the hops combine with a moderate carbonation to keep my palate on its toes. An earthy transition brings the hops to the fore, and the bitterness flows in with it. The fruity aspect of the Mosaic hits first, then the moderate bitterness cleans up. The last wash actually seems to allow the rye malt to re-enter the situation.

So this might be an IPA more in marketing than style. Sure, there's a fair bitterness in the end, but the red and rye malt (although only claimed to be "a dash") combine to have a larger influence on the beer, in my opinion. The choice of Mosaic might even help accentuate the red malt. It comes to me as a more full bodied than medium and definitely could fill in as a replacement for a winter warmer to me.

On tap initial quick review:
Clear red-leaning amber, solid head/lacing; nose/taste have rye, with bite; balanced beer with rye aspects noted.

From the can, it pours a hazy darker amber with a thick, modest head. The head stays and leaves lacing. The nose gets some rye bread. The mouth gets a smooth easy drinking lightly rye flavored brew. Nice!

Old Ox Brewery has this red rye IPA that is totally satisfying. Amazing carbonation and depth to its flavor. Not just another average IPA offering here. Even though it has a fairly strong ABV, the rich notes of the rye and the malta hops push through and eliminate some of the "booziness" that you can get above 6.5 percent. It pours out an almost maroon color with some strong head retention and lacing. The overall mouth feel is smooth. The smell notes of rye bread and caramel and somewhat matches the aftertaste. It was purchased as part of an adventure pack of 12 cans. I haven't found this separate as it is a limited release, but i have found this in their variety packs for the last few months.