Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Beer: Ruthless Rye IPA 2013
Type: American IPA
ABV: 6.60%
Character: Combining the peppery spice of rye and the bright citrus flavors of whole-cone hops
Metal Connection: INTERNAL BLEEDING – Ruthless Inhumanity
Good old reliable Sierra Nevada. I know most to all of you should know who this brewery is, well at least I would hope so! For a very long time now, their Pale Ale is a widely distributed beer and should be available at most corner stores and Ice Houses across the US. Well, hopefully people don’t stop there, and venture outside the box to try other beers made by this brewery, as they have a lot of highly worth it choices. Their seasonal line includes Ruthless Rye IPA, and they release it once a year in the Spring time. This is the second year that I have had the honor of having a Ruthless Rye, but the first time being reviewed. I know I have had a shit ton of beers since having the 2012 version of this beer, but I do recall not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. When I saw the 2013 release of this beer at the store, I was actually hesitant to purchase a bottle. Well, either my memory is wrong, or they really did beef up the recipe since last year’s version, because this beer has received the highest 5 skull rating here at BMD!
Poured this beer into my newly acquired Real Ale Brewing Co. logo pint glass, Ruthless Rye is a slightly cloudy, dark, reddish brown color with a nice beige colored finger width head. The head was nice and frothy, and retained throughout the session, leaving a very nice lacing.
The aroma of Ruthless is a good combination of the rye, which gives off a black pepper-like smell, mixed with the hops, which smell of citrus, and a background of malts, which smells like caramel, or a light butterscotch.
The taste is something ruthless, as it hits you with it’s deliciousness, and leaves you battered and craving for more. Right away you get the peppery rye taste and the citrus hops…Left Hook! In the body of the drink you get malt tastes of sweet caramel…Right Hook! A slight bitter, bread-like finish, with the citrus taste, and dryness from the rye lingering at the end… Body Jab! Not very bitter, well balanced, smooth, medium body helps make this beer easy to drink….Uppercut! Knock out!!!! Down for the count!!!!
I will say this to you. If you see this beer at your local craft beer destination, pick yourself up a bottle, a six pack, a growler or a pint, you will love it. I know that from person to person, everybody sees, smells, and tastes this differently, but I seriously can’t believe that there are bad reviews about this beer out there! What more do they want?
in 1997, a brutal Death Metal band by the name of Internal Bleeding released an album named The Extinction of Benevolence. On this album there is a song by the name of “Ruthless Inhumanity” which immediately came to mind to pair with this beer, given the name and all. So here is my 1…2 combination knock out punch, the beer and the song. Enjoy!
Feeling ruthless, BeerMetalDude!
Beer Metal Media 