I don't do anything with Rye and there are few to no Rye beers in the local craft offerings so I'm just not familiar with the flavor contribution but everything else looks good
You’re right, rye is not well represented in the brewing sphere, because it doesn’t take much of it to really increase the difficulty of your mash. I’ve has mostly success using it but not always! The highest percentage I’ve gotten away with is 25% of the mash. I tried a Roggenbier last year and missed my numbers; extraction was off, I was down in the low 60’s efficiency. When the fermentation was done it was just not good. I took notes on it and id’d my process issues and it’s on my agenda to retry. The 25% rye beer was a Cascadian Dark Ale and I rather liked it. Another beer I hope to revisit later this year.
If you’ve had bourbon, there are many “high rye” bourbons that give you an idea what it’s about. Rye whiskey will too. George Washington distilled rye whiskey, basically a rye “white dog” whiskey that only aged in the barrel long enough for it to reach its destination by way of Alexandria some 12 miles away. The recreation of this mash bill was done several years ago when they rebuilt the distillery. It’s insanely expensive, but it’s 99.95% old school distilling.
- They cut and split their own firewood, forge/make their own tools, coop their own barrels, they’re the last powered by fire distillery in the US, there’s no A/C.
It taste like... spicy grass. No kidding. Now, that said, GW did not age his whiskey, there wasn’t a significant financial push for that at the time in the colonies and he needed the money. But, after the distillery got the recreated mash bills out, they aged the rye a couple years in charred oak barrels like we do with modern whiskey and it’s quite good.
In beer, the grassiness and spice is much more muted and the spice is not like seeds in rye bread, a more subtle spice. Mostly, a slight spiciness is what you perceive, some describe it as earthiness. It’s also nice for mouthfeel.
