Founders Black Rye

Brewed by Founders Brewing Company
Style: Specialty Grain
Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

(Bottle) Pours a black (nearly opaque) body with a large rocky off-white head. Aroma of chocolate, toffee, roasted malts, breadiness, and citrus. Flavor of roasted malts, hops, and coffee. Nicely balanced.

Thanks to weeare138. Pours a dark brown with a bubbly light brown head. Aroma of chocolate, dark fruits, some grapes, fruity, citrus hops and rye. Flavors along the same very bubbley on the tongue. Picking up more roasted malts, rye, bready, nice hop bitterness.

Bottle shared courtesy of weeare138 (thanks!). Poured a dark black with a huge sized tan head (initially poured all head). Aromas of light rye, chocolate, roast and dark fruits. Tastes of dark fruits, cocoa, light rye and roast. Body was on the thin and fizzy side.

bottle. nice looking deep black body with a large mocha head to start with and then receding to a persistent small cap. The aroma is moderately chalky with notes of roasty chocolate, oranges, earth, and rye bread. palate is quite smooth with a definite rye presence among a big whack of hop bitterness which actually surprised me. It actually felt a bit heavy at times but still remained very drinkable with no alcohol presence. finishes with some chocolate roast and long bitterness. good stuff. bought at Merchant’s Fine Wine in Dearborn in February 2006.

Has some porter qualities with the chewy roasted malts, but the plum and rosemary soapy flavors just don’t do anything for me. Has a nice char texture and finish, but the overripened fruit and maple syrup-like residual finish turn me off. Yeasty, putrid licorice nose doesn’t score any points either.

Tasted side by side with the Red Rye. Dark brownish red body (black) with a moderate head. Aroma is dark malts like chocolate, roast, licorice, and coffee... but also quite hoppy. I suppose there is some rye present as well. To me, this tasted sorta like a bitter porter. Very interesting to say the least. As I drank it next to the red, I initially thought it was worse, but by the end I liked it better.

Interesting cross between toasted charcoal malt flavors and bitter hops that just felt a little wrong on the palate, still quite good.

(02.21.06) 12 oz brown bottle purchased from Archer Liquors, Chicago, IL. Pours brown-black with small tan head. Soft carbonation. Roasted malt on the nose. Medium bodied ale that starts dry with a hint of malt sweetness and notable expresso/burnt malt flavors. Finishes dry with lingering bitterness, roasted malt fade. Notable chalk dust feel in the mouth. Porter-like in aroma and flavor, this ale is good and drinkable, but the surprising astringent quality at the finish was a turn-off.