Jack the RRRipa Rauch Rye IPA
Brewsters Brewing Company & Restaurant - Eleventh Avenue

8oz glass at Beer Revolution YEG Oliver Square, another part of their tap takeover for their sister company across the parking lot - a group of brews eventually destined for Liquor Depot growler bars, I'm told.

This beer appears a hazy, medium bronzed amber colour, with one skinny finger of wispy and weakly bubbly dirty white head, which leaves some decent coral reef atoll lace around the glass as things slowly progress.

It smells of meaty caramel malt, a further free-range ashiness, some spicy rye graininess, muddled dark orchard fruity notes, and more earthy, leafy, and grassy green hop bitters. The taste is beechwood smoke, gritty and grainy caramel malt, a lesser rye astringency, still difficult to parse domestic citrus esters, and an equally obfuscated leafy, weedy, and piney verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite restrained in its lackadaisical frothiness, the body an adequate middleweight, and generally smooth, once you get accustomed to the smoke factor, that is. It finishes trending dry, the char and masked hops making it so.

Overall - yeah, this one does well to combine more than a few disparate brewing styles, and mostly pull it off. The 'rauch' definitely dominates, however, so know that going in, Liquor Depot beer newbies!