A hoppy beer with a unique ingredient
Quick: Name a few things made out of rye.
Done? You probably thought of bread, whiskey and, maybe, healthy crackers of some sort. Odds are, however, you skipped right over beer.
Yes, the grain that’s a staple of deli sandwiches and Canadian whisky can also be used to brew a perfectly good beer.
There’s a reason, however, that it’s not widely used. It can make a sticky mess of brewing equipment.
“It used to be a grain used out of necessity. It’s difficult to work with,” says Jason Britton, brewmaster at Oakville-based Cameron’s Brewing. “Now, brewers, especially in the U.S., are using it because of the flavour it adds.”
And that’s one reason why Britton decided to use rye when coming up with a hoppy new India Pale Ale two years ago.
“Everybody’s doing an IPA. We asked, ‘How can we be different?’ ” Britton recalled of discussions at the brewery.
Eventually, he settled on a recipe using 30-per-cent malted rye, four kinds of barley malt and seven varieties of hops. RPA — Rye Pale Ale — was the result.
The orangey-gold, slightly hazy brew has an aroma dominated by notes of citrus rind and a touch of pine resin. Those characters are all there in the flavour as well, along with a hit of juicy tangerine, which comes from Amarillo, a hop variety that is one of three kinds Britton uses in “dry hopping.” The traditional British technique involves putting hops in later in the brewing process, to add more hop aroma rather than just bitterness.
But there were plenty of hops used earlier in the making of this brew, which has a bracingly bitter finish.
That dryness, Britton insists, comes partly from the rye itself. In other, less aggressively hopped brews (such as Cameron’s seasonal Rye Bock), the rye can also lend a spicy, black pepper flavour. So far, the unique brew has been earning plenty of plaudits, including taking home the gold medal in the IPA category at this year’s Ontario Brewing Awards, and winning the “Wheat or Specialty” category in the Ontario Speaker’s tasting at Queen’s Park (that means it will be available at Queen’s Park restaurants).
More importantly, perhaps, Ontario beer drinkers seem to be enjoying the unique brew, says Britton.
“It started out as a one-off cask for a festival, then it went to regular draft, then to big bottles and now to sixpacks. We’re selling more and more every week.” Email Josh Rubin at josh@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter @starbeer