Founders Charred Red's Rye - Founders Brewing Company

CortexBomb

Michigan

4.25/5  rDev 0%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

Charred Red's Rye is a limited release currently available at the tap room.

The pour is extremely dark amber, nearly brown. The head is white, but doesn't last very long before fading away. The nose is very woody (oak) though some of the citrus hop aspects from Red's is still there in the background. A real wallop of a nose though, I like it.

The flavour of the beer starts out with a rye kiss, just like the usual beer, but then oak / wood characteristics take over the flavour and set up shop with some light citrus hop bite and some definite alcohol flavour and warming which lasts for quite some time after the swallow. Exceptional, a real improvement on the normal brew.

The mouth on this is medium full, not super thick, but it covers your taste buds. Good tingles from the hops. Drinkability is fine for a beer of this type, it's strong enough where you probably won't want to drink too many in one session, but it's not difficult to drink. In terms of rebuy, I would purchase this again in a second, particularly given that this was priced at the same level as standard Red's.

The bottom line: I am generally only so-so about standard Red's, but this charred version is head and shoulders above the normal stuff. The oak character is big here, and this reminds me of an amber version of Curmudgeon, which for me, is a very good thing. Well worth checking out if you run into it.

Serving type: growler

08-15-2007 23:43:12 | More by CortexBomb