Feature Beer Friday! - Gnarly Barley Radical RyePA

I hope you have all enjoyed the blind session beer tastings, but now it's time for a few known quantities... sort of. I recently got together with some beer blogger friends and recorded a beer review episode of Chuck P's Me And My Big Mouth podcast. None of the beer was reviewed blind, except for this first one.  Brenton brought it in a growler, so he was the only one that knew what he was drinking.  All he would tell us is that it was available locally.

So... by now you've seen the title and know that he brought us a growler of the Gnarly Barley Radical RyePA.  It's a 7% IPA with 75 IBU and a strong presence of rye malt. Gnarly Barley is one of the new Louisiana breweries, located just down I-12 in Hammond, LA. Their beers can be found in several bars around town, but nothing but draft as of yet.

On to the review... keep in mind that all of us but Brenton didn't know which beer we were drinking until after the comments/scores were compiled.

Reviewers: Eric Ducote (BR Beer Scene), Jay Ducote (Bite And Booze), Brenton Day (The Ale Runner), Chuck Pierce (Me And My Big Mouth), and Buddy Ethridge (Baton Rouge Adventures in Beer).

Serving: Poured from a 32 oz. growlito.

Appearance: I described it as a slightly hazy amber, Jay wrote that it was "copper like a shiny penny."

Aroma: Hoppy, but a little faint, I figured this was likely from the growler. Buddy picked up piney and earthy hop notes.

Taste: Hoppy, and far more powerful than the nose, the hops really come through strong on the palate. Jay wrote that it was "like rye sourdough bread" and Buddy picked up a light spice. Turns out Jay should have stuck with his first instinct!

Mouthfeel: A little bitter on the back end, we all thought it had a long lingering finish.

Overall: I thought it was a pretty good IPA, with a little work still to be done. We all scored it relatively high, Jay said "I dig it" and Chuck just wrote "very tasty" as far as the overall impressions. And that was before we knew we had a local brew on our hands.

Once Brenton revealed that this was the Radical RyePA I was thrilled. I can tell that they have been improving on their recipe from batch to batch and this is the best this beer has ever tasted. It's a great local addition to the scene.

Overall Rating: 72.6
My Rating: 71