Arcadia Sky High Rye
Rye Beer, 6% ABV
Sayeth the Guys:
Karl: Fun name. Pretty lame label. Good beer? Good beer. I know I keep going back to the Rye-on-Rye from Boulevard as a touchstone, but only because it was so damned good. It’s going to be tough to top, and until then, I’ll be revisiting it as often as I damned well please. This rye beer is miles apart from the R-o-R in flavor, but still pretty good and definitely distinctive.
Pouring a golden color edging into orangeness with a light white head and light lacing to match, this is one big mouthful of pepper and peach. It’s rich, it’s bright, it’s happily carbonated, it’s got some citrus in it from those grapefruity hops, and nicely dry on the palate thanks to all that rye-ey goodness.
Give this one a few minutes (or be forced to after a long evening of tasting has left you somewhat fatigued) and you’ll find that while the peach aspect has backed off, the pepper remains and it just clarifies that punch and the fresh bright flavor of this beer. And buried back in there is just a hint of green apple as well – all in all a standalone quality beer, and an even better palate clearer if you’ve been weighing yourself down with overly heavy offerings over the course of an evening. Either way, this is a winner.
Andrew: The 12th Anniversary Arcadia Ales Sky High Rye poured an orange/amber color with very little head. Lots of citrus notes with hints of some spice and malts in the nose.
Ryan: Sometimes at the end of a beer reviewing night we reach for one last beer that we really don’t need and 9 times out of 10 we regret it. Sure, splitting a Russian Imperial Stout after sampling half-a-dozen other beers may seem like a good idea at the time. But it’s not. This time we did well. Very well.
We cracked in to this bomber after clearing out reviews of Bell’s Batch 9,000, Founders Devil Dancer and Port’s Santa’s Little Helper – just to name a few. After downing dark, rich beers all night the straw in color, citrusy and slightly dry Sky High Rye was a very welcomed change of pace.
This may have been the aforementioned beers talking but I wrote in my notes that, “I want to make this in to an air freshener.” That’s how good it smelled – lots of citrus and pepper.
The taste was very bright and crisp; orange peel, lemon zest, tangerines and peaches. The rye made for a nice dry finish.
I may have to keep this around as a standby to wrap up all of our beer tasting nights.