This one came across as overly sweet to me, but that might be because I had their IPA before I tried this - complex notes of chocolate, caramel, nuttiness - tempered with some slight bittering hops, light and dark fruit (orange, plum?) - rye makes its presence known - pretty decent.

On draught at Sunset Grille, 9/10/2005 (pre-mead tasting). Fair enough pour, dark amber-to-light-chestnut brown with a small but well-retained yellowish-beige head, unfiltered. Aroma is fruity, nutty, floral and has hints of soily-earthy yeast. Light chocolate perhaps, with oranges and grapefruits. Flavor is a pretty straightforward RyePA. Amped up hops bitterness overpowers the flavor, but some sweet oranges, light tropical fruits and a dry, grainy, caramel malt and light biscuits/breadiness. Quite dry on the finish (well, dry through most of the beer, actually) with plenty of hops complexity, but relatively lacking on the malt side, I thought. Mouthfeel is lightly astringent, papery and dry, but still unfiltered and thus there is at least something there to chew on. Lots of rye. I enjoyed it, but I must say that I’ve had better rye beers. Founders Reds Rye and Willimantic Rye carry the same hops bitterness but add much more juicy flavors and seem to have better body.

Cloudy dark amber colour. Big, fluffy, light caramel head. Woody, lightly citric aroma with some sort of crystal/munich malt. Toasty, earthy character with breadcrusty notes, spicy rye and a fairly bitter finish. At times surprisingly chewy. Distinctive if a little unpolished.