Cheers!: Guinness Scores with Rye Pale Ale

I did a double take when I saw it in the store. What the…? Guinness Rye Pale Ale? Yes, I’ll have some of that!

According to the attractive royal blue and gold label, this is “an aromatic amber ale.”

Yeah, I guess you could call it amber-colored. I’d call it dark gold. No matter.

Taste is what matters, and this tastes like it might be my new favorite pale ale in the entire solar system. There is something so yummy about this beer that I don’t want to stop drinking it. It seems to me at this moment in time that Guinness Rye Pale Ale might be the perfect beer.

It’s a rich, complex and perfectly simple beer. The rye gives it heft without being heavy. I don’t recall ever having a rye pale ale before, which is odd because it is a grain that seems perfectly suited to this style of beer.

The tale Guinness tells is that this was first brewed as a holiday offering for friends of the brewery in Dublin, but was met with such widespread approval that it just had to be released to the public, meaning us. Many breweries do holiday releases that never see commercial release because they are intended for brewery employees and its friends. Even Miller Brewing Co. does this (or did it when I interviewed one of their brewers earlier in this century – a woman brewer, by the way).

So, thank you to Guinness for recognizing the commercial potential of this delicious rye pale ale.

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A few weeks back I asked you to let me know what beer is in your fridge as your go-to adult beverage.

Here’s what Kevin M. Grace, Wine and Spirits Manager at Sendik’s Food Markets, Mequon, wrote: “…has changed over the years. Started out in Madison and it was Augsburger, which of course changed to Berghoff, then on to Heineken in college. Went through the Stella phase while living in Chicago, but now it’s (drum roll, please): Toppling Goliath Dorothy’s Lager.”

And Duaine Ohman of points unspecified wrote: “I did a double take when I saw your article last week! I have tried and enjoyed a lot of beers over the years, but the two you will find the most in my fridge are Coors and Negra [Modelo]. Believe it! Smoooooth and mellow! I always keep my beer next to freezing for the best cold beer experience. Cheeeeeeeeers.”

Duane’s double take was caused by the fact that Coors Banquet and Negra Modelo were featured in the column that asked for responses. That, as my old pal Dana would say, is quite a coinkydink.

Keep ’em coming, bartender!