Toast Tuesday: Rye Beer

This week’s adventurous drink is beer made with rye. We’ve covered rye whiskey, and ostensibly, that’s just a malted rye beer that has been distilled.  This week is rye in honor of our Founding Fathers and the President’s Day holiday that just passed.  One founding father in particular, Thomas Jefferson, was quite fond of rye.  I’m only disappointed I’m not in Philadelphia to try City Tavern’s Thomas Jefferson 1774 Tavern Ale, based on his original recipe.

I found my own local-ish rye beer.  Since I only had one this week, I’m not making any comparisons, just saying that the Abita Barrel Aged Rye Pale Ale was quite tasty. It had a sweet malty flavor with a nice finish. It was much sweeter than I was expecting, but not overly sweet. I didn’t find the whiskey barrel came through to any noticeable degree.  It was worth the taste, but since I don’t have anyone to share it with, I’m not certain I’ll get again.  It is a 22 ounce bottle and a little more beer than I would normally tuck into in one sitting.

I took it to a dinner with some friends in hopes that I’d get someone else’s thoughts. But, alas, they all stuck to wine and I was forced to savor my bottle alone. We had dinner at a small Persian restaurant and my rye beer paired beautifully with the tender lamb.

One thing that I’ve been wondering, and I’m sure Meg could shed some light, how difficult is it to actually brew beer?  And how small of a batch can I reasonably make, being a household of one?

Spoiler alert:  Both last week’s beer and this week’s could do double duty for next week’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Beers.  Brother C has been torturing me all evening with pictures of all the beers he’s been buying.  I’m quite jealous of their selection.  I see a road trip in my future.

I hate to say, I’ve reached that age where my memory isn’t quite what it used to be.  I’ve been trying to recall if a conversation was just that, a conversation with a real live person, or if it were something from a book I’ve read recently.  I feel like it was an actual conversation… Any way… Someone recently told me they hated rye bread as a kid because their grandfather made an all rye bread that was a brick.  It wasn’t until they had real rye bread, in the form of a Rubin sandwich, that  they realized what they had been missing all that time.

I’m feeling a little like that myself these days, but not for bread.  I’m having fun with the book and am especially enjoying the discovery of brown beverages I like.  I said it before and I’ll say it again.  I’m loving rye.

Here’s to Toasting another Tuesday!