Heritage Black Currant Rye Lager

Formerly brewed at Heritage Brewing Limited
Style: Fruit Beer
Carleton Place, Canada

Cask half-pint at Volo Cask Days. Yes, you read that right - this was a cask-conditioned lager brewed with rye and black currant. Pours dark amber with more head than I expected. Hice hops on the nose, with the rye and currants poking through from the background. Flavour holds some very nice bready rye notes with the currants and hops providing surprisingly good counterpoints. This could’ve been a complete disaster, but somehow it worked, and I really enjoyed it.

At Volo Cask Days 2005. Auburn pour, big white head (they called this a lager, but it looks all ale to me! - quite attractive really). Sour dough aroma with hint of musky fruitiness. Wow, taste is very tart, almost a sweet fruit bread taste (kind of what they were going for, eh?). Full bodied, tons of sediment (I had one of the first glasses poured), lots of flavour and really nice - a nice way to start the day (a good breakfast beer) and very surprising - well done Heritage! Glad I had a half pint to sip on and not a tiny sample as this beer is a grower for sure.

Draught (cask). At Volo Cask Days 2005. Didn’t quite know what to make of this one. Poured hazy mahogany with visible white floaties, with a huge (for cask) lasting off-white head. Nose is very sour, black current / raspberry jam, other tart fruit juices, some grains; interesting, but still not sure what to make of it. Taste was lighly alcoholic, the berryfruit seemed a tad stale, the grain (rye?) was more prounounced, but this was still quite sour. Mouthfeel was acidic and almost syrupy - a fair amount going on. By the end of my half-pint sample I determined I liked it okay, but would like to try it again to see how much.

Bottle. Nice rusty body topped with a decent off-white foamy head. Enjoyable hoppy aroma with sweet and blackcurrant notes. Taste may lack coomplexity and is a bit too malty. Leaves a sharp bitter/sour aftertaste. Not among my favourites in that category, but still pretty decent.

Juice? concentrate? Nice head, grows on you. Bittersweet overall. I think not the real thing, and a lager. Volo Cask Days. Colour for some points. Some rye, but not prominent.

Mineral hop aroma, slightly buttery nose. Neat amber-red looking beer with good white crown on top . Sweet berry , white sugar , rather light bodied . Very sweet fruitiness . Rye shows late as the sample warms up .

deep red colour with mahogany highlights. Aroma reminds me of ginger ale - spicy and sweet. Not so much black currant in the aroma. Flavour is very sweet berry flavour balanced with a spiciness from the rye. Pours with little head though it leaves a nice belgian lace on the glass. tastes somewhat like mixing ribena and a coup de grisou. Well balanced between beer character and berry flavour although definitely leans more towards the black currant. Overall not a bad beer but finishes too sweet for my taste - especially in a quart bottle.

Cask at Bar Volo’s Cask Days 2005. Black Currant Rye Lager ? Well, it’s different that’s for sure. Pours a cloudy dark auburn with a large white head and some sediment. Very sour aroma of alcohol and a hint of fruit. The flavour has the aforementioned black currant and rye much more prominently than the aroma did along with some sourness and malt. My rating is lower than most of the others but I recognise that this is definitely an acquired taste -- just not my taste. Kudos for trying something different though.