BeerMetal Rating: 4.75/5

La Cumbre Brewing Company out of Albuquerque, NM is a very popular brewery. For those that don’t get distribution of their beers in their area, people trade or try very hard to get their hands on beers rom them, especially their Elevated IPA. By the way, I am one of those people. Back in 2015 I reviewed Elevated IPA here on my site. Check it out. This brewery has been pumping out the good stuff since 2010. There’s not much info on their website of their story or staff members. I can see that they have their main brewery/taproom, and a second taproom location both located in Albuquerque.

Today I will drink only my 5th different beer from this brewery, and I am super excited about this one. It is Ryeot IPA. I am a huge fan of Rye in beers, especially IPA’s. I make this fact known as I always tell my fellow Craft Beer friends about my obsession with the grain. So with that said, I really want to thank my friend Brittany for giving me this can. I have held on to it for a few months, and probably should have drank it as soon as I got it from her, but oh well, that’s just how it goes at the Beer Metal media household sometimes.

This beer comes in a 16oz can. The label is printed right onto the can, and I have stated in the past that I do not really like this approach as this has some flaws, cause the details do get a bit lost in the artwork. The can is a reflective gold color, which by the way is a bitch to photo. I had to do some serious work on this photo to get it to where it is. So I hope you all appreciate the photo. There is a great color scheme on this can. Red and black art within the gold can. They use the same circles as they do on some of their other cans, which features a similar design like their state flag with the second, larger circle featuring a mountain top. The sky above the mountain has red & black sunburst lines. There are large hop cones, also in red and black along the side of the can. Pretty nice design.

Appearance: Clear amber reddish brown color topped with a 1 inch off white fluffy head. Excellent lines of lacing left on the glass as I drank this one.

Aroma: Definitely picking up on the rye, dark toasted malts and caramel. Also very grainy. The hop profile is wild and a great mix of citrus, tropical fruit, some earthiness, floral, and a bit of pine notes. On the fruit side I am getting aromas of grapefruit, orange peel, and mango.

Taste: Toasted malts and caramel with a nice rye spiciness are major players here with a hop profile just like the aroma, filled with a mix of citrus orange peel, grapefruit, mango, mild earthiness, floral, and pine come through at the end. The rye also blends with the hop aftertaste.

Body/Mouthfeel: Medium body with a chewy mouthfeel. Moderate carbonation. Dry finish. Excellent body and mouthfeel.

Overall: I love all the beers I have had from this brewery. I am starting to believe that they don’t brew a bad beer. Now, I have only had 4 different beers by them so far in my Craft Beer drinking days on Untappd. As I said earlier, Rye IPA’s are one of my favorite styles of beer. Pretty much any beer with rye in it. I love the spiciness and dryness that it adds, and blended with the right combination of hops, it just makes the beer that much better. This is the case here. The citrus, tropical fruit, earthiness, floral and pine notes blended with the rye is just fucking perfect. The last time I checked into a beer from La Cumbre was the Red Ryeot IPA back in 2017 when my good friend Ryan brought a can to share with a group of us at Big Hops, a Craft Beer bar here in San Antonio. I scored that one a 4.25/5 back then. I am giving this, the Ryeot IPA a solid 4.75/5. This is a fantastic beer. Thanks again to my friend Brittney for giving me this can. Much appreciated.

Riot-ImmortalSoul Metal Connection: I paired this amazing beer with a song that also shares the same name as the band that plays it. Riot is the band, and Riot is the song title, and it fits perfectly with a beer also named Ryeot. Yeah I know, the spelling is different but really, who fucking cares? We all know that this beer is a play on the word riot, dammit! Riot has been an active band since 1975, with only a small 2 year hiatus from 1984-1986. They have released 16 full length albums since their creation.

Obviously it’s hard to keep a line-up of musicians that long, so there has been some member changes and relocations of the band since it’s inception. They began in New York, reformed in San Antonio, moved to Los Angeles, and now they are back in New York again. Original and founding guitarist, Mark Reale was the only steady member for most of their career, but sadly he passed away in 2012 due to complications from Crohn’s disease. At this point, the band carried on but changed the name of the band to Riot V to simultaneously honor the founder of the band and acknowledge that they could not be called Riot without him. They are still known simply as Riot in certain territories, and both names are often used interchangeably, according to their bio on Metal Archives.

In 2011, they released their 14th studio full length album, Immortal Souls on Steamhammer Records. This would be the last album to feature founding member, Mark Reale. The line-up on this recording was Don Van Stavern on bass, Tony Moore on vocals, Bobby Jarzombek on drums, Mike Flyntz on guitar, and Mark Reale on guitar. Van Stavern is known in San Antonio and Austin as also being a member of the bands Pitbull Daycare, Evil United, and the mighty and influential band S.A. Slayer. Bobby Jarzombek is also a very famous drummer, as he has played with Fates Warning, Halford (Rob Halford’s band), Painmuseum, Sebastian Bach, Spastik Ink, Juggernaut, and is actually currently playing drums for Country Music legend, George Straight. This is an amazing album, and this song, simply known as Riot is one of my favorite tracks from this one. Crank up your volume and prepare to riot…