Old Capitol Templeton Rye Pale Ale

Formerly brewed at Old Capitol Brew Works and Public House
Style: American Strong Ale
Iowa City, Iowa USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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UPDATED: DEC 23, 2007 Batch 1 at the brewpub. Hazy orange caramel with a 1/2 finger creamy light beige head, fades to a ring quickly. It did leave a couple strings of lace. Aroma of whiskey, vanilla, and oak up front. Kind of hard to pick up on much else. Flavor is of whiskey, vanilla with some spicy rye, caramel malts, very light buttery notes. Not too boozy, though it isn’t supposed to be over 6.2%, so no surprise there. The Templeton Rye finish is the best part of this beer. Creamy medium body with a slightly prickly carbonation. Pretty decent. 2nd Batch. So anyways, had a tulip from the second batch last night (12/11/07, and am doing this from memory. This batch had quite a bit of peach/apricot fruitiness and a lot of straight bitterness (5-6 out of 10) in the woody finish. If I can scrounge up my notes from the first batch, this review will make a little more sense. Templeton Rye is fairly fruity, and since I have a glass of it next to me, it is clear this is where the fruitiness came from. 2.6 isn’t my actual rating, just what I’m putting in until I find my scrap of paper.

New batch on tap in a tulip in December 2007. Hazy dark amber body with an off white head. The aroma was definite Templeton Rye, and I could tell that when all I knew was that it was a barrel aged brew, not which barrels were used. There was a little bit of green apples and caramel. After it warmed the rye was more subtle with some bread crust. The taste was boozy grapefruit with up front rye. This was woody and dry. There were some definite hay notes in the finish. The barrel aging was a little much by the end. Pretty good for an Old Capitol brew.

UPDATED: AUG 13, 2007 Draft at the brewpub. Served in an 8 oz tulip glass. Aged in barrels from a distillery in Templeton, Iowa. Poured a slightly hazy orange red color. Head was two fingers thick and off white with decent retention. A bit of lace was left on the glass at the end. Aroma was a mix of whiskey, citrusy hops, and husky grain. Dry on the tongue with a warming alcohol effect. I definitely tasted the whiskey along with some vanilla, subdued grapefruity hops, and husky grain. Plenty of alcohol. I was feeling it by the end of 8 oz.