Founders Black Rye: A Reintroduction

By Ben Kramer in Food on Feb 19, 2015 5:00PM

Via foundersbrewing.com

When Founders Black Rye was introduced in 2006, people had trouble grasping what they were tasting. Here’s this dark beer, but it has a medium body? It’s roasty, has a high ABV (7.5 percent), but has hop aroma and it’s crisp? And what is this rye?

“People didn’t really understand it,” says Founders brewmaster Jeremy Kosmicki. “It was a time dark beer meant either porter or a stout, and there really wasn’t any (category) this beer could fit in.” The lack of categorization may have confused people, but Kosmicki doesn’t try to brew by style. He just likes to see what works and make something delicious.

That being said, Kosmicki saw something that worked in a previous Founders beer and wanted to adopt it into something darker. In their Red's Rye IPA, Kosmicki liked how the hops complemented the rye. This steered him towards trying rye again, but in a dark ale. Building the beer off a chocolate rye malt, or a rye which has been heavily roasted, Kosmicki went to work adding other grains, such as wheat (which helps give the beer a nice creamy foam and head retention) and then using hops that would round out the flavor. Their presence would be in the aroma, but their main job would be to balance the malts and supplement the rye. Once ready, the beer was released— but to mixed results.

It was considered eccentric. A dry-hopped, dark ale with rye? It found a cult following, but it wasn’t large enough to keep it in Founders stable. Retired within that year, Black Rye found itself largely forgotten and lost on the Island of Misfit Brews.

While marooned on said island, time passed. As time passed, palates changed. Black IPA’s took to the scene, introducing people to dark beer, but with lighter bodies and a hop presence that wasn’t there before. People had been clamoring for Black Rye’s return as far back as 2006, but by 2015 Founders felt the public was ready to be reintroduced to Black Rye.

So here we are now with Black Rye back, but only as a seasonal. Pegged to be here through March, the beer has limited time left in Chicago. If you like rye, if you like dark beers and if you like beers that fit no real category, then head over to Printers Row Wine Shop (719 S. Dearborn St.) and get yourself a 4-pack. Kosmicki isn’t sure if this beer will return next year, so why not try it? After all, you might not want to wait another eight years to do so again.