“Well that bites.”
ABV – 5.9%
OG – 15°P
SRM – 10.5
IBU – 59???
YOS was a hophead long before most and actually likes IBUs that go way above 100. But sometimes there’s just no point in being so damn bitter.
Scribe was shipped a bottle of French Broad’s Rye Hopper Ale. In the interest of being fair he had to drink it warm since Mrs. Scribe dropped the bottle after unpackaging and the cap popped. Maybe it was because it was too damn warm, though Scribe finds the warmer nature of beer from the country of bad teeth tends to mellow the hops. But this had little rye, low sense of malts and bitter, bitter, bitter.
Did your brewer leave you for a “better” beer? Poor Rye Hopper. No wonder you’re so damn bitter.
The aroma was hops: maybe Cascade but taste couldn’t tell, a bit rye. The color: golden. The taste was bitter: period. The problem here is that 59 IBUS usually doesn’t do this unless high alpha acid hops are used or someone dumped the hops in the beginning of the boil and astringency takes over. Scribe is guessing the latter. There’s a talent required when brewing hoppy beers: especially if you want the character of, oh say, RYE, to arrive on the palette as well as hops. Additions at just the right time, in the right way, and not just a long, hard, boil.
Hey, French Broad! Don’t you Asheville, NC guys know that hard boiled is for eggs, not hops?