Archive for July 8th, 2009

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Brewery: Shmaltz Brewing
Location: Saratoga Springs, NY
Style: Rye based Double I.P.A.

Keeping in the D.I.P.A. mode, next up is He’Brew’s Bittersweet Lenny’s R.I.P.A. According to the bottle, this is #1 in the Shmaltz Tribute to Jewish Stars. In this case the star is Lenny Bruce. I considered some sort of cheesy Lenny Bruce ranting tribute review for this beer, but decided it really did not succeed enough for the effort.

Not to say this is not a good beer – just not as great as some of the He’Brews I’ve had. Actually, that’s basically how I fell about Bruce as well. Some of his material was genius only to occasionally fall into something a bit too out there or experimental for my tastes. While I am a fan of bitter performers, I am not a big bitter beer fan – and rye beers are (to me at least) too bitter.

The packaging claims an obscene amount of malt and hops and as the list below demonstrates, they are not lying:

Malts: 2-row, Rye Ale Malt, Torrified Rye, Crystal Rye 75, Crystal Malt 65, Wheat, Kiln Amber, Caramel 70
Hops: Warrior, Cascade, Simcoe, Crystal, Chinook, Amarillo, Centennial. Dry Hopped with Amarillo and Crystal

Sadly, I don’t think this amount of malts and hops actually ends up creating any sort of balance in the brew. Instead, all I got was hop with little malt sweetness.

This pours the color of brown sugar with a massively thick creamy head. The hop scent leaps out of the glass – very flowery and piney. That hop massiveness continues into the tasting. Immediately – all moisture left my mouth. Exceedingly dry and bitter. This is something beyond “hop bomb” – perhaps “hop tactical device” might be a better term. No real balance and that hop whollop kills any chance of tasting the malts if they are actually there.

It’s definitely a big beer – 10% ABV – and perhaps one only suited to the biggest of hop fans. I’ve read elsewhere of folks getting a malty front with a big hop back. Wondering if perhaps it should have been cellared a bit. In any case, most likely not something that will be returning to the OAB HQ any time soon.