I’m going to go through some more beers and beverages that have been sent to me for comment. Some of these have been provided in several different brews. So I’ll try to pick the flagship, or most-reviewed beer of each, do one of my videos, and then update this article as I drink more. A tough job, but it’s gotta get done.
Rhinegeist Brewery began making beer and cider in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in 2013. Their brewery occupies the pre-Prohibition bottling plant of Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. They’ve expended distribution into several neighboring states, and have been found in Indiana and Wisconsin. This month they’re bringing cans and taps to the Chicago market, in partnership with Windy City Brewing.
They sent me six different brews. I decided to start with their most-reviewed flagship beer, the Truth IPA. It’s a 7.2% abv ale, with a tilt to West Coast IPA styles from Amarillo, Citra, Simcoe and Centennial hops.
Truth IPA
Sitting out by the grill, where the wind kind of interfered with my video, I popped the can. There’s a nice amber color under a foamy head. The head left some legs on the glass after I had finished most of it. The nose had hops to it of course; a little bit of tropical fruit and plenty of pine resin.
The taste had plenty of malt to back up the aggressive load. Again, bitterness and some pine and resin, plus a little bit of passion fruit and mango. I do catch a little bit of sodium, like from a Bohemian Pilsner. I’ll see if I catch this in the other beers to find if it’s from the Cincinnati brewing water. A decent start to my Rhinegeist journey.
Zango Fruit Beer
Zango is a fruit ale, at 5.0% alcohol. Not much info about what the base beer style might be. Just going to guess a light golden ale. But it’s enforced with apple, mango, and tangerine.
The pour is a warm yellow, slightly hazy, with a brief sudsy head and steady stream of bubbles. The smell is pleasantly fruity, with mango predominating, and then tangerine. Apple juice seems to be in the background like the apple juice that is usually the base of any flavored juices. Taste starts with mostly apple juice (not cider), then the tangerine comes up front, with mango not as strong as in the nose. But the fruits are all there in the palate, and in nice proportions. I may be treating it higher than others would, but as a fruit beer, it hits its goal nicely. I did not get the same impression of specific brewing water, possibly because the fruit was stronger.
Sabre Tooth Tiger Imperial IPA
Rhinegeist has put a couple of Imperial India Pale Ales in cans. This was the one they had to send over. It’s at 8.5% abv, with Bravo, Amarillo and Simcoe hops, on a malt bed of 2 Row Pale, Pilsner and Flaked Rye.
It pops open to a pulpy tropical fruit smell. Pours a hazy gold color under some white frothy foam. The taste has rich and fruity hop notes, with a nice backing of toasty malts and alcohol. But the alcohol doesn’t get in the way of drinking it as quickly as I might want. The only trouble with tasting this while I’m grilling dinner is that I have none left to enjoy WITH dinner.
Cidergeist Swizzle
Here’s the cider of the batch, described as a “hard cider with lemongrass and ginger.” 5.0% abv, and somehow, being a cider means they get to—or have to—add a Nutrition Facts box: 155 calories, 14 grams of carbs including 11 grams of added sugars. What that means against a regular beer, I’d have to look it up.
Your basic apple cider nose. Pours a golden cider color with a head that looks thick, but fizzes away before I can take its picture here. Slight ginger nose once i get my snoot over the glass.
The taste starts with an apple juice sweetness, but after a few seconds, there’s the burn of fresh ginger. A little hard to pick up lemongrass when there’s ginger on the tongue, especially when it picks up the impression of a ginger beer. It’s a zesty cider with a nice balance of spices. That’s not easy to pull off, and I have a lot of “Christmas cider” under my belt to prove it. Would like to see this come around for the holidays.
