Chicagoist's Beer Of The Week: Founders Red's Rye IPA
By Jason Baldacci in Food on Jan 30, 2015 10:10PM
This week we're revisiting an old staple from Pure Michigan.
Red's Rye is an IPA brewed with rye malt from Founders Brewing Co. of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It pours a beautiful copper-red color in the glass with light tan foam and a punchy aroma of grapefruit and wildflowers. On the palate, the citrusy hops kick in hard up front before they subdue into hints of lemongrass and pine. There's a touch of caramelization and a nice malty backbone, and the addition of rye malt adds an extra layer of complex, earthy spice to balance those prominent hops. At 6.6% alcohol content, Red's Rye is a wonderful combination of an American Red Ale, a Rye Ale and an IPA all rolled into one delicious pint.
Just last month Founders shocked a lot of their fans by announcing that they had sold 30% of the brewery to Spanish Brewery Mahou San Miguel. While this news was surprising at first, you have to consider that Founders is growing incredibly fast and a financial infusion like this will allow them to fund some much needed expansion projects while continuing to supply beer to their expanding footprint. We also suspect it allowed them an opportunity to pay back some of their other investors, but we can't confirm that for sure. While it does bother us a little bit that one of our favorite Midwestern breweries is now partially owned by an overseas company, they could have done much worse. Mahou is a 125-year-old company that's been independently owned for seven generations. It's also a global brand that will allow Founders to start shipping beer internationally at some point.
Red's Rye IPA is available on draft in a slew of places around town. Check beermenus.com to see where you can grab a pint this weekend.