Ryetopia has been, literally, a year in the making. This beer is the first, of hopefully many, beers that will come from our barrel aging program. Ryetopia was brewed with a generous portion of malted and crystal rye, which lends a spicy complexity to the beer. To balance out the malt flavors, Ryetopia was hopped with Bravo, Apollo, and Cascade hops. Aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels, this is a smooth sipper of a beer that will age well in the years to come. According to HBC Head Brewer Greg Filippi has this to say about the beer. Ryetopia is our homage to the delicious yet often overlooked rye malt. We started with a big bold barley­wine style ale, then beefed it up with a healthy dose of rye malt and crystal rye (about 16% of the total grist). Rye is known for its dry, slightly spicy flavor in beer. Crystal rye goes through a different malting process which converts some of the starches in the grain into simpler sugars before we add it to our mash. This results in a sweeter flavor, adding hints of licorice and toffee to the finished beer.