American Craft Beer Week Pt.3

Before we get into business, Friendly Package would like to thank all of the Ball State students that voted for us for “Best Liquor Store On Campus” through Ball State's Daily News. For those of you paying attention, that's two years in a row. 

This week is American Craft Beer Week

Today, is our third installment of American Craft Beer Week, and once again, time to step out of your box. Today’s featured breweries are (Jacob) Leinenkugel Brewing Company and Founder’s Brewing Company.  Leinenkugel have a handful of good beers, especially for the hot weather. If you’re looking for lemonade in your beer check out Summer Shandy, fruity pebbles check out Sunset Wheat, want some berries? Berry Weiss. You’re a big Honey fan? Honey Weiss.

The aforementioned beers are good and fine, but Founder’s Brewing Company brews serious beers. Their Centennial IPA is the standard for IPAs, their Porter (Like I’ve previously said) is the best in our cooler, their Pale is solid, and that’s not even getting into their seasonal bottles. Enough of how awesome all their beers are, time to tell you about Red’s Rye PA.

The good stuff.

Founders Red’s Rye PA

Quick backstory on this: For the longest time I avoided this beer because of my previous experience with rye beer. I’ve had a few of them and didn’t really dig the taste. I wasn’t sure exactly what I didn’t like, but the fact that rye was in it, I assumed it was the culprit. I’ve never really had an experience with rye before beer, so it was a new experience overall. On top of my bad experience with rye beers, I assumed that it was going to be similar to a red or an amber beer, which is also not up my alley. After talking to a customer, they assured me Red’s Rye PA was the way to go if I’m looking to figure out what a good RIPA tastes like, and boy was he right.

There's Red, hidden outside of their offices

Red’s Rye PA is brewed with four different Belgian malts, and Amarillo hops. It pours red with a grapefruit nose stinking up the room from the Amarillo hops. Other than the floral and grapefruit, some caramel malty-ness comes through. This is what a Rye PA should taste like, hop bitterness, malt and rye come through nicely with a medium body. My words can’t do this beer justice, just go grab one, or a full sixer and get a dollar off.

Enjoy.