Heritage Black Currant Rye Ale

Bottle from an OCB media pack. 2007 version. Nice ruby colour with a good size pink head. Great balance of malt and sweet-tart fruit in the aroma. Medium bodied. Mild malt profile with a nice infusion of red currant. Sweet without being too sweet. Pretty nice stuff.

This beer has been totlly retooled in 2007 and deserves a re rate Pours an darker copper red with shimmering ruby high lights..tight pored 1 finger caps lasts well and laces the glass. Sweet aromas are gone and in their place this brew gives spicey malty tones with tart berry fruit under tones. Flavor is typical of Rye beers upfront; grainy-spicey then the fruity tones kick in but NOT over powering nor sweet...tart berry and citrus hops meld well in the center and the finish is clean spicy-fruity bitter-tart and clean. Very drinkable in this state and recommended a top flight fruit ale...actually now one of the better ones in the Ontario market

Bomber from the LCBO. Pours a dark, translucent, ruby but almost blood red, with a large pink fluffly head. It’s actually pretty interesting looking, especially when held against some light. Aroma: Hops, oddly enough, and some black currant, what? No rye? Taste: Surprisingly good! Black currant, followed by a small sour bite, with nice malts in there, perhaps pils malts or something typically used for lagers because I can taste straw and a little sweet dough. There’s some nice hop flavour in the finish as well. The aftertaste is nice and tasty, again the hay and straw I’d expect from a well made malty lager are evident. Seems like a pretty decent beer to me. Maybe it’s been tweaked a bit since some of the lower ratings were given. It’s a tad on the sweet side, but usually I’m pretty sensitive to overly sweet beer, and I can still drink this. I like the label on the bottle too, cool and pleasant looking. I really do like Heritage/Scotch Irish Brewing, and I really wish I could have more beers from them available to me in the K-W area.

LCBO bottle purchase- Hazy pink/red pour with a frothy light pink cap. Nice lace too. The nose is quite fruity. Cherries and currants with cotton candy and fruit punch. Currants are up front and are sweet, but balanced with a tart cherry presence, and some raspberry jam. Sweet, but not a sugar bomb like I expected. I wouldn’t want a lot of this at once, but it is pretty nice.

Draught @ West 50, Mississauga, ON: Noticed this new offering today at lunch and grabbed a pint. Came cherry in colour, decent and disconcerting off-pink head. Lacing was quite good from top to bottom. Aroma was very sweet, cherries, black currants (duh!), and grapefruit. Flavour is milder than I thought off the aroma, nice and malty with excellent balanced hopping and a muted tart/fruity background. Much better than I’d expected, and a good offering.