An amber ale brewed with rye malt and aged in rye whiskey barrels. Our first barrel aged beer here at Against the Grain is the Kentucky Ryed Chiquen. Named so because it was made in Kentucky, has a lot of Rye in it and was aged in rye barrels and it's not Chicken. As we all know (or should know) Chiquen refers to anything that is not chicken.
Now that we have all that straight, we will talk about what is in this beer. Brewed with Maris Otter from the UK and rye malt and caramel rye from Germany, imparting a spicy, fruity and dry flavor. Then hopped with enough English Nugget and Kent Goldings just to balance and fermented with our house ale yeast. After fermentation we moved the entire batch into the AtG private dining room and into used Redemption Rye barrels from our good friends at Strong's Spirits. There it aged for 5 weeks until we felt it had picked up the right amount of residual bourbon character and oak flavors. We then transferred it to our serving tank, carbonated it and the end result is on tap now, a balanced drinkable and complex barrel aged beer. (Description provided by company)
Comments
Rye beer aged in rye whisky barrel
Kentucky Ryed Chiquen is a clear, dark amber with a white cap. Some lacing is left by what little head is left.
Rye is in front when I smell my glass with the oak barreling adding some rye whisky.
Lovely rye in the flavor, but I find this rye beer not as aggressive as others I've sampled. Dare I say that the barrel aging may have mellowed the rye?