For the second Rye-on-Rye release, we drew inspiration from the famous New Orleans cocktail, the Sazerac. The official recipe is composed of rye whiskey, absinthe or Herbsaint, a sugar cube and bitters all garnished with a lemon peel. To translate this classic cocktail into a beer, we brewed batches of the base rye beer that received spice additions mimicking bitters as well as lemon peel during the boil. The resulting wort was fermented with our house Scottish ale yeast before being aged in freshly emptied Templeton Rye barrels.

Opening with strong aromas of rye whiskey, toasted oak, vanilla bean and cinnamon, Rye-on-Rye X – Sazerac is full bodied and spicy. Rye malt and whiskey character lead in the flavor giving way to hints of black pepper, anise and subtle citrus from the lemon peel all closing with a sweet, warming finish. Rye-on-Rye X – Sazerac is 11.8 ABV and 29 IBUs.