Rockit Cup Rye Pale Ale Recap

So after last month, I believed that things couldn’t get nuttier. Wrong. Way wrong. Super duper wrong. Thirteen different beers and brewers this time, including several newbies. Welcome to the family, kids. 

Our winner! Picture gleefully
stolen from here.

All told, our lucky thirteen brewing the Rockit Cup Rye Pale Ale included myself, Jeff Fortney, Brian Gallow, Jon Vanderglas, Travis Lewis, Wes Davis, Matt Young, John Hoke, Chris Bauman, Jeff Schell, Gus Stathes, Todd Clingman, and Tony (sorry, Tony, I don’t remember your last name). As with the Rockit Cup Single Hop IPA, a lot of palate confusion and difficulty ascertaining the subtle differences, even more so since all of these beers were intended to be the same thing. Since we needed to simplify, everyone ranked the their Top 5, with the results being: 

1st: Brian Gallow
2nd: Gus Stathes
3rd: Jeff Schell

Brian was the clear winner—of the twelve people judging, he got eleven Top 5 votes. Who missed out on that one? Way to go, Darren. As for how I voted, I had Brian in first, but I had kicked out Gus’s beer in getting down to my Top 5—Gus’s version had a fantastic nose, but the body was less distinct with none of the rye spiciness and much less hop flavor in comparison to the other versions. Instead, I had Jeff Fortney’s beer in 2nd (he ended up tied for 4th) and Jon Vanderglas’s beer in 3rd (he ended up tied for 4th). I had Jeff Schell in 6th—his was the last beer out to get down to the final five. And how did my beer fare? To quote my own blind tasting notes, it was “flabby, thin body, slightly gummy, doughy, and under-carbonated.” So you can see how much I loved it. For me, it was one of the first beers off the table. In my defense, it had only been in the bottle a week—yes, I bottle condition everything—and I had ridden my bike to the meeting that night. But those are just excuses, which have no place in the Rockit Cup. I was in 8th. Take that, Tom.

Thanks to all that participated! August’s Rockit Cup is a Choose Your Own Yeast American Weissbier, with details posted here. Get brewing!

(6/15/2013)