Groupe G Belgian RyePA – Headlands Brewing Co.

7.6% ABV, 65 IBUs
Purchased at City Beer Store ($xx /16 oz. can) and poured into tulip glasses.

Groupe G pours a dirty orange with a mid-sized, pillow-y, off-white head.  Belgian aromas jump out of the can on the crack; in the glass, you get bubblegum, tropical fruit esters, banana, peach, a sharp spice bite, and hint of farmhouse funk.  The first swallow is beautiful – sweet tropical flavors of guava and berry play off the spice snap of the rye, and the hop bitterness is fairly restrained.  It gets more flower-y on subsequent swallows, almost like a Belgian hibiscus IPA with rye, while kumquat and bubblegum flavors come to dominate the finish.  This beer goes in a lot of different directions at once, but it’s all pretty cohesive and original, not to mention delicious.

   4 Toasts

   3.5 Toasts