Beer Style Guide: Get to Know Rye IPA with Em Sauter

Another in the series of “IPAs of many colors” - the rye IPA is an excellent beer style that sadly fell out of favor and is not really seen much anymore. This beer had its heyday in the early to mid 2000’s and is an intriguing throwback to the time when bitterness and malt complexity were the most important factors when brewing an IPA (not so true anymore). 

The hearty rye has been used in brewing for millennia, especially in Northern Europe. The history of the rye IPA though is murky; there really isn’t any one brewery that started doing this style. The rye IPA though was popular with homebrewers and was a beer brewed by larger breweries during the golden age of IPAs when many different IPAs variants were brewed before hazy IPA took over (you can think that’s a good thing or a bad thing depending on who you talk to). 

How Rye IPA is Made

Rye’s huskless nature makes it a nice addition in small amounts. Rye IPAs are an evolution of the American IPA but instead of all pale malt, there’s a healthy dose (about 25-30%) of malted rye. Hops should be American or Southern Hemisphere in nature and American ale yeast is used for restrained esters and other organic byproducts so the hops plus the rye are the stars of the show. When you taste and smell a rye IPA, everything about it should feel “American” in that you are having an American IPA but with rye malt added. Yes, piney/citrus hops should be apparent but that pumpernickel spiciness should be its supporting actor. 

Food Pairing

With that rye flavor, the beer style can be paired with a variety of dishes. Since the malt is more prevalent than in other IPA styles, I like trying to think what would be best with that particular ingredient as well as the high hopping rate. A dessert like a ginger spice cake would contrast the fruitiness in the beer while the spiciness of the rye and the spiciness of the dessert would harmonize. BBQ chicken or other heartier chicken dishes would work well with this beer style as well. 

Beers to Try

Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye

Now only on draft in their pubs and in their fall variety pack, Sierra Nevada’s Ruthless Rye was a beer made for autumn evenings. A phenomenal beer. 

Forbidden Root Radio Swan

Full disclosure, this is actually a Milkshake IPA (and we will talk about these coming up) but I really like how rye can round out this style, something a lot of people aren’t doing. If you are ever in Chicago, Forbidden Root is definitely worth a visit for their unique beers and delicious food. 

Your Local Brewpub

Specialty IPAs, especially ones of a “vintage” (I use that term very loosely as beer evolutions moves quite quickly) nature such as the rye IPA, are best sought out at local breweries. It’s your best chance to see one in the wild.