Thunder Canyon Rye Heat

Crystal clear golden tangerine pour with a small white ring for a head that left some sticky lacing. Aroma is predominantly caramel malt and some fruitiness. Can’t really detect the rye in either the aroma or flavor. Taste is honey and spice. Meh.

Sampled on 4/18/2009 at the brewpub from a 4oz sample. This ale pours a medium orange gold color. Perhaps a little hazy. The aroma is caramel and rye, some floral hops. A medium bodied ale. The malts are caramel and sweet. Hops are floral and somewhat grapefruity. There is a lot of rye character in this beer. Nicely balance. Very active carbonation. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter with some rye spiciness.

Tap @ Brewery. Floral and spice nontes on the nose for aroma. Amber body with thin head. Sweet sticky candy like a friut roll up in there and some dry spice bitterness in the background. Easy qualfable brew as the Diamondbacks were finishing up a lack luster performance on the ball field.

the bartender said it was his favorite so i went with it...

hazy dark amber pour with a small off white head and moderate spotty lacing. the aroma is pretty much just toasted grain and caramel until it warms up... then it starts to show floral nuances and sourness, soap and cinnamon which are usually thrown out by rye or at least caraway seeds when the are toasted. the flavor is almost a mirror of the aroma... caramel, lots of grain and an earthy slightly sour finish. when it warms it shows floral notes and a distinct lingering aftertaste of rye... like i just took a bite of toasted whole grain rye bread. this is fairly full bodied... actually, it coats the palate. it would be quite smooth, soft and luscious if it were not for the prickly carbonation and spiciness. not a whole bunch going on aside from the rye. (i guess that’s the point?) ... neat-o...6/4/6/4/13/3.3

On tap @ TBC - Pours an almost clear amber color with a thin white head. Light ringed lacing is left behind as the beer is drank. Aroma is light hops and and that odd rye spiciness. The flavor is much of the same. Not quite sure what to make of this beer. The rye is noticeable. The brewer says it has been fairly popular. That may be so, but I won’t be ordering another. Worth a try though.

Described by the waitress as a Rye Lager that is both spicy and tart, sounds interesting or at least weird.

The beer arrives with a fairly hazy (though you can see through parts of it) amber color that has a reddish tint to it. The head is barely there and forms a ring of foam that hugs the sides of the glass and is tan colored. The aroma is quite grain focused; it is a touch spicy, with a wheat cracker aroma, a touch of muddled grain and a big (in fact the most prominent note by far), whole grain bread crust note that has been lightly browned.

The beer has a prickly carbonation to it and a medium body that has a fair amount of fullness to it. The beer definitely sticks to the palate with a rye induced viscosity, but the ample carbonation helps to cut this a bit. Solid whole grain flavors remind me more of whole-grain crackers than bread, but there is a touch of a browned bread crust flavor. There is actually a light sourness to this beer that is noticeable up front, it is definitely surprising, but somewhat subtle. This tartness helps the beer to come off as pretty dry despite the viscous fullness. The carbonation is retained pretty well because of the viscosity too.

This beer is dominated by the characteristics of rye. There is very little to no hop presence (which is probably the point). As it warms up the spiciness of the rye softens up just a bit and the mouthfeel becomes fuller as the carbonation slowly dissipates. It seems to pick up a touch of sweetness as well, but still remains quite dry for a beer of this thickness. Definitely interesting.