Arcadia Sky High Rye

Brewed by Arcadia Brewing Company
Style: Specialty Grain
Battle Creek, Michigan USA

22oz bottle split with BeerGestapo. Poured a lightly hazed amber with a small head. The nose was citrus and toffee. Tastes of grapefruit, caramel, and bread with a little bit of rye spiciness in the finish. Smooth but very noticeable bitterness, this was more of an IPA than a roggen.

Bomber courtesy of dmschefke. Pours copper with a white head. Smells of rye, spice, peppery, earthy. Tastes of pronounced rye, citrus, wildflowers, pepper, spice. Full mouthfeel. Excellent!

Bottle from Siciliano’s, Grand Rapids, MI. Cloudy orange with medium to large, real creamy, white head. Aroma is pretty big citrus and caramel, dry and subtle pine, some rich rye at the same time. Flavor is pretty resiny pine and citrus flavor, off-dry , caramel, solid but a little green. Medium and creamy body. Very nice.

22oz. Bottle: Aroma of hops, rye, pine, citrus, and a hint of toasted malts. Poured orange/amber in color with a medium-sized, creamy, rocky, off-white head that lasted throughout. Slightly hazy and lightly cloudy. Slightly sparkling. Full of tiny particles throughout. Good to very good lacing. Flavor is lightly sweet and light to medium bitter. Tastes of hops, rye, pine, light citrus, slight cream, slight toasting, slight caramel, and a hint of vanilla. Light to medium body. Thin, oily texture. Average carbonation. Hoppy, rye, and slight caramel finish is a bit sticky.

22oz bottle 6/8/09 (Binny’s Naperville)-Pours a clear golden with a small white head and an aroma of pine, rye, and hops. Taste of the same with a bit of sweetness comng through. This medium bodied brew is not bad but I feel a bit bland and I was expecting more.

Draft at waterfron manhattan. Orangey w/decent head. A nice sessionable drinking rye, tastable but not overpowering hops

Pours copper / orange with a frothy off-white head. The aroma has pine, grapefruit, orange and light funky hops, just a touch of rye and some sweet malt backing it up - very nice. Medium sturdy body that has continued heftiness and soft carbonation. The flavor starts drier than the aroma with very noticeable rye up front. There is also pine, dry grapefruit, tropical hops with a bit of malt besides the rye. The finish is pleasantly dry, grainy and hoppy - nice.

Sampled April 2009
A standard pour produces a three finger thick, light tan colored head that is long lasting and leaves some nice lacing on the sides of my glass. The beer is a clear, copper-gold color that gets a shade lighter when held up to the light. The aroma is definitely nicely hoppy with notes of tangerine, orange-zest and lychee being quite noticeable. The is a backdrop of toasty pale malt character, some grassy grain notes as well as a spicy whole grain character; this last is definitely nice as I like being able to smell the rye influence. The finish actually has quite a bit of grain character to it and can even drown out the hop notes at times.

A clean, ample, biting bitterness cuts through the palate here. There are hints of malt sweetness that accentuates a light hop fruitiness (some sweet citrus, lychee and a touch of tropical fruit notes). There is a nice level of spiciness here in the flavor that is a mix of piney, herbal hop notes and the spicy grain / rye flavors. This has a fairly light body, but has enough fullness to keep things in balance; it is definitely a quaffable brew though.

The hoppiness could be a bit fresher here, but it is still quite vibrant. I really like that the rye plays a noticeable role here, in both flavor and aroma. This is a nicely enjoyable beer.