I've had a Bear Republic stout, the red and the brown as well as a pale ale and liked them all... but then there's this one made with, you know, rye. You have to wonder about rye beer, that less popular and less interesting cousin on beery family tree. The only one that ever blew me away was Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A. but that was a big 10% bomb with plenty of other things going on. With that one, you knew you were drinking a wall of beer with the rye crunched by the sweet malt and jangling hops of what I seem to have called "Messiahive flavour" - I was so clever back in 2006.

Hop Rod, by comparison, is still a stiffening 8% but it has the overall volume turned down a bit, letting the rye sit with the grapefruit and twiggy hops. It pours a cloudy reddish chestnut ale under a massive tan head that holds. There is malt with raisin and maybe apple but it sits in support of the bitter. The bitter sort of reminds me of Angostura, not just herbal but dry and barky. Not at all out of balance or fully arid by any stretch but a tad barky in its cumin spiciness. But barky may be exactly what you are looking for like the BAers who are in love.

So is there a Belgian yeastily spiced beer made with spicy rye?