Green Flash 7th Anniversary Belgian Red Rye Ale - Green Flash Brewing Co.

popery

California

3.39/5  rDev -12.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

On tap at beer revolution. Pours a deep coppery amber color. Very cloudy. Nice beige head. Fine bubbles that stick around for awhile. Surprisingly generic Belgian aroma. Caramel malt mixed with some Belgian fruitiness - raisins, plums, apricots. Little bit of rye spice and earth. Mild citric hoppiness. Taste is pretty sweet. Good dose of sugar. More rye spice, which helps but still needs to be turned up. Some hip bitterness in the finish. Carbonation is pretty normal. The sweetness and kinda meh Belgian notes give it an odds feel, though. Not great but not bad.

Serving type: on-tap

03-03-2013 22:45:42 | More by popery

UCLABrewN84

California

3.75/5  rDev -2.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

On tap at Green Flash Brewing Company in San Diego, CA.

Pours a clear honey orange with a foamy khaki head that settles to wisps film on top of the beer. Small dots of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, caramel, fruits, and a bubblegum aroma. Taste is much the same with a fruity flavor on the finish. There is a mild amount of spice bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer but it smells better than it tastes in my opinion.

Serving type: on-tap

01-21-2013 19:55:52 | More by UCLABrewN84

lsummers

California

3.38/5  rDev -12.4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Orange red with a one finger head that leaves some nice lacing.

Smells great, it's the first thing that hit me. Smells of malt and breads with a hint of fruit notes.

Taste surprises me with a bit of caramel breads sweetness mixed with a touch of that rye bread note. Ends with a touch of alcohol. Pretty nice but not the best rye beer I've had.

Mouthfeel is great, a tiny bit thick all the while having some good carbonation.

Overall I would have this again but it's not something I can't live without.

Serving type: on-tap

01-11-2013 05:16:56 | More by lsummers

CHILLINDYLAN

Washington

3.93/5  rDev +1.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Bright copper, ruby red highlights. small offwhite head that disperses into a pool of oils. light tiny traces of laces.

Big belgian fruity yeast esters. tart cherry, apple, banana, sour citrus. spiced bready malt.

Bright crisp apple and cherry yeast esters. Spicy rye and herbal/sour citrus hop character. Bready with a hint of caramel. Spicy oily finish. sturdy bitterness counters the yeast and malts.

Lively carbonation, refreshing and crisp with slight drying, oily, med light body

Good tasty brew. Glad I grabbed a growler. Nice pairing of belgian yeast and spicy rye and hops.

Serving type: growler

06-15-2010 22:02:25 | More by CHILLINDYLAN

glid02

Georgia

4.25/5  rDev +10.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

On-tap at Neighborhood in San Diego.

Pours a somewhat hazy amber color with a one-finger off-white head. The head recedes into a patchy layer on top leaving solid lacing.

Smells of grainy caramel malts with good amounts of pine and mild citrus hops. Also present are slight amounts of spicy rye.

Tastes similar to how it smells. Crisp caramel malt flavors kick things off and are joined quickly by pine hop flavors that are more mild than the nose intimates. Midway through the sip hints of earthy hop flavors enter into things before seguing into mildly spicy rye flavors. The ending is solidly bitter.

Mouthfeel is very good. It's got a nice thickness with grainy carbonation.

Drinkability is also very good. I finished my glass quickly and could easily have another.

Overall I was impressed with this beer although I have to say I'm not terribly surprised. A very nice beer that's well worth a shot.

Serving type: on-tap

05-18-2010 23:40:25 | More by glid02

plaid75

New York

4.2/5  rDev +8.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

On tap at Rattle n Hum, NYC.

Poured a hazy dark copper hue with a two finger frothy white head. There was good retention and lacing.

The smell featured a fresh doughy malt, rye spice and a piney hop.

The taste consisted of a resinous hop, clean doughy malt and assertive rye spice.

The mouthfeel was typical of the style.

Overall a very tasty rye beer

Serving type: on-tap

03-31-2010 18:53:38 | More by plaid75

Kegatron

Pennsylvania

3.78/5  rDev -2.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

On tap @ the Blind Lady Ale House on 3/17/10. Served in a tulip glass.

Pours a hazy deeper amber in the glass, with a finger of foamy off-white head. The retention on this is very nice, with a full richness to the flareup that leaves a big frothy cascade of lacing behind. The aroma has lots of floral hops and pine going on with it, along with some stiff smelling toasted breadiness underneath. A splash of citrus adds some sweetness. There a touch of yeast present, but it doesn't seem to be putting off much extra flavor in the aroma but instead works with the spiciness of the rye to give the nose a bone-dry feel.

The taste is pretty aggressive with the hops up front, with resins and earthy notes mixing with rye spice. This quickly gives way to a green citrus flavor, toasted bread, and some light caramel sweetness. The Belgian yeast seems to be giving off some delicate feeling extra fruity esters here in the taste, with plenty of lingering notes of pine, spice, and yeast really parching the back of the palate with a fairly intense dryness. The mouthfeel is fuller bodied, with a strong prickly creaminess to the carbonation that gets a little easier feeling towards the back of the swallow. There is some alcohol beef to the body but this actually handles that for the most part, with an undercurrent of hoppy slickness that keeps this moving fairly well.

This was interesting, tasting like Hop Head Red done with rye and then fermented with a Belgian yeast strain. The hoppy Red Ale aspect of this is probably showcased the most here, which I think helps provide a good base for the added flavors to work off of. Maybe a little too intense at times with that wicked dryness to it but I mostly found this to be quite interesting and drinkable.

Serving type: on-tap

03-24-2010 17:07:47 | More by Kegatron