Against the Grain ‘Kentucky Ryed Chiquen’ Craft Beer Review

Brewed by Against the Grain Brewery & Smokehouse

$10.99/Bomber

Style: Rye Beer

8.60% ABV

Serve at 48-50°

Availability: Rotating

Notes/Commercial Description:

An amber ale brewed with rye malt and aged in rye whiskey barrels. Our first barrel aged beer here at Against the Grain is the Kentucky Ryed Chiquen. Named so because it was made in Kentucky, has a lot of Rye in it and was aged in rye barrels and it’s not Chicken. As we all know (or should know) Chiquen refers to anything that is not chicken. 

Now that we have all that straight, we will talk about what is in this beer. Brewed with Maris Otter from the UK and rye malt and caramel rye from Germany, imparting a spicy, fruity and dry flavor. Then hopped with enough English Nugget and Kent Goldings just to balance and fermented with our house ale yeast. After fermentation we moved the entire batch into the AtG private dining room and into used Redemption Rye barrels from our good friends at Strong’s Spirits. There it aged for 5 weeks until we felt it had picked up the right amount of residual bourbon character and oak flavors. We then transferred it to our serving tank, carbonated it and the end result is on tap now, a balanced drinkable and complex barrel aged beer.

Enjoyed from a snifter

A: Pours a deep orange-amber, almost caramel bourbon color. A finger’s worth of creamy foam that leaves a sparse, sticky lacing.

S: Tons of malts up front. Obvious notes of oak, char, vanilla, subtle bourbon spiciness.

T: Medium sweetness, caramel, molasses; malt overload. Herbal, woody, wet hops, and bitter rye. I ultimately finish with something like metal and moss, not the bourbon end I was hoping for.

M: Medium bodied. Finishes dry and tart with that terrible metallic tone.

O: I really enjoy Against the Grain, and I think this is the first brew of there’s I wouldn’t recommend. The bottle came dressed with chicken feathers glued to the bottle. I assumed such a garish presentation would pay off.