I'm not generally a fan of
rye beers, but this is
BrewDog, and they put out
Hazy Jane, so they have a wide margin for failure. Looking at the label, you might not even realize that this is a BrewDog beer immediately, as it has a stylized evil squid dominating the can to the point that I had to scour the can to find out what the style was.
The beer is only a little red. In fact, I'd probably call it a lightly amber-hued dirty brown with a realistic head that won't be leaving lacing, but it's doing a fine job of sticking around. The color of the beer is really kind of striking - like a dirty puddle outside a Glasgow pub that someone bled into after a hard-won bar fight that had the loser buying a round for the bar. The aroma is crisp apple, grapefruit, orange, and flowers.
First sip is not bad. It is mostly malt with the citrus around the outskirts, but the rye is like a thin red line that goes through the whole thing; it's not the most flavor beer, but it's not likely to be left unnoticed. Still, the flavor is a bit sweet and generally fairly affable.
Tip-in is sweet with bread and then filled with citrus; carbonation is very light, but a rye is right around the edge. The middle is almost a woody malt with the fruits all sliding their juice down the board, and the rye is just hinting around everything. The finish is where the rye comes up a little more, and the flowers are brought as well.
Bottom Line: It's a good beer that is let down by the featured ingredient.
2.25/5