Image linked from RateBeer.com
This beer is an exclusive brew for Julio’s Liquors in Westborough MA, made by Smuttynose Brewing Company.
I was finally able to make a run to Julio’s when visiting family over the holidays, and grabbed a bottle of this along with quite a few other beers I can’t get or haven’t seen in NY. I was particularly interested in Ry(e)an as apparently you can only get it at Julio’s. Of note, this was from batch 2 (purchased December 31, 2011).
Appearance is solid. Nice dark copper beer with a dense shallow head that sticks around a while.
This beer, to be honest, smells like a caramel apple. None of your typical floral or citrus notes on the nose in this beer. I had caramel apple on the nose, and orchards on the brain when smelling this.
What can I say, I wasn’t happy with how this beer tasted. I found it to be overwhelmingly sweet (and I’m a big beer lover) and off balance. If there are hops in this beer, I’ll be damned if I could taste them. I got a heavy onslaught of caramel sweetness and some tartness on the back with a bit of a lingering boozy aftertaste. I don’t know why they bothered making this a rye, as I couldn’t find any of it in the flavor at all. I love a good rye beer, and this was just disappointing.
Mouthfeel was very heavy and thick, like a thin syrup. No carbonation on the tongue at all, though it’s lightly present in the glass. I felt like there was a film left in my mouth, on my teeth, on my tongue, upon finish. The boozy aftertaste did nothing to dry things up between sips.
Overall I was very disappointed in this beer. I know and enjoy Smuttynose, and this is just not one of their better batches. Maybe I got a bum bottle, or maybe batch 2 just wasn’t up to snuff. I don’t know, but I was shocked that this beer rated so well on RateBeer and BeerAdvocate given my disappointment with it. I’d split it with my father on New Year’s Eve, and he passed his glass over to me to finish. It’s just not an enjoyable beer, unfortunately.
