Founders Reds Rye P.A.

Brewed by Founders Brewing Company
Style: Specialty Grain
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

12-oz. Thanks to BitBucket for the trade. Unalloyed generosity on his part for this round, without a doubt. Pours coppery brown, and fairly opaque at that. Glows copper against the light. The nose is just amazing on this beer. Sour sharp rye with some piney hop dissonance...definitely a perfect match. The attack is crisp, and that’s bulwarked by a nice bubbly mouthfeel that sits between raw and fizz. The finish is quite dry and bitter, though not exceptionally so for the style. Rich nutty rye sourness permeates the flavor as well as the aroma. Really great, drinkable stuff--this beer should probably not be served by the pitcher if I have to drive.

12 oz bottle. Amber color with creamy tan head with a slight orange hue. Full aroma of sweet sugary caramel malts and pine hops. The flavor is lots of pine hops with some grassiness. The sweet malts are experienced around the distant edges of the hops. Just about the end there is a rye note that surfaces. Nice lacing too.

Aroma of toffee, chocolate, and grapefruit. Pours auburn, hazy, and with a light tan head that has settled into a creamy 1/8 of an inch. Flavor is mostly grapefruit hops followed by an ever so mild roasty sweet maltiness. Definitley dominated by the hops, this beer is pretty chewy and resiny, but still not too heavy of a body. Not too balanced, but I like hops, so that is good in my book.

Its red, as the name suggests. Thin tan head. Spicy aroma, with a hint of sweetness. Big dose of citrus pine, as well. Big hop flavors up front that meld into orange, pine, caramel and I’m gonna say rye. again, as the name suggests. Thanks to Springslicker for sharing!

Bottle from TPaliga; Thanks! Nose of caramel and rye bread combined with some light hops; slightly hazed copper with a medium beige head; flavor showed some hop bitterness along with rye and light caramel malts, along with some hop bitterness and some sourness. Doesn’t come close to the Alesmith Yulesmith I am rating and comparing this against!

Bright red, very nice color. Aroma is chewy and sweet like a Terrapin beer. Imposingly heavy, earthy aroma. The spirit of the beer remains heavy and dull. Difficult to drink, sorry.

Bottle. Amber colour with a huge white head. Hoppy aroma with notes of citrus and melon-like. Nice hoppy flavour with notes of rye, citrus, lemon and melon. Ends up with a little alcoholic and bitter finish.

04-Dec-07 (12 oz bottle: Obtained 17-Mar-05 in trade with bkelley68, thanks Brian!) I dug deep into my cellar to finally find this long-lost beer. Two and a half years of aging have most certainly changed the beer considerably, but I’m not the least bit disappointed by the outcome here. There’s a good half-inch of loose, chunky sediment and a thin layer of sludge in the bottom of the bottle, but the first 10 ounces pour mildly hazy and dark amber in color. The foamy, off-white head is at least three inches in height. After scooping out some of the head, the nose is sweet, malty and woody with an oxidized, caramely tone. Mimicking the nose, fairly strong notes of oxidized, sweet, deeply caramely flavors are further enhanced by tea, dried fruit, sherry, light earth, wood and vanilla. Just a touch of gently bitter hops emerge in the finish, but no surprise there of course. As the beer warms, modest smokiness adds even further complexity and the earthiness begins to deepen and intensify. Body is medium-full and carbonation is moderate. A hint of tartness and acidity adds some vibrancy on the palate, and combined with the gentle bitterness, this malt-dominated beer is tasty and easy to drink. No doubt, most people would probably consider this beer long past prime (what constitutes "prime" is an individual choice), but I think it’s delicious; it’s taken on almost an Olde Ale character. I do suppose I should obtain and rate a fresh bottle of this beer, but I don’t expect it will provide any more satisfaction that this aged, highly complex bottle has today.