I was trying to choose which beer in my fridge to drink last night when something hit me. And no, it wasn't an apple to the head which would make me choose a Redd's Apple Ale. It was the realization that as little as a year ago, most of the bottles in my fridge wouldn't have been there because they weren't being sold in San Diego yet. From Portland's Gigantic to Denver's Crooked Stave to Oklahom's Prairie, we've gotten a lot fantastic new breweries on the shelves in San Diego in a very short period of time. I ended up choosing a beer from yet another new brewery new to the shelves out here (and one I've been wanting here for a long time)- Smuttynose.
Smuttynose Rhye IPA is described by the brewery as being a variation of their Finestkind IPA that uses a healthy dose of rye malt and a bigger dose of dry hopping. Off the pour, the beer shows a beautiful clear amber color with brilliant gold highlights. A one finger cream colored head leaves a curtain of lace against the glass after each sip. I wasn't blown away by the smell, but it held intriguing notes of tropical and citrusy hops along with a nice and spicy rye note. I also picked up some mango, grapefruit and caramel.
The taste opens with a hint of pine, but it's held down by a thick blanket of caramel and toffee malt flavors. The rye shows up near the middle along with some malt breadiness before a finish of peppery cracked rye and light pine resin. This beer didn't knock my socks off, but it's a really tasty rye IPA. It's awesome to see Smuttynose on the shelves here and I can only hope that we'll see a lot more of their beer very soon.
Final Grade: A-
Top 250 Beers Tasted: 127
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