Left Hand Terra-RyeZD Black Rye Lager

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

They have this classified as a Rye Beer, but it is labeled "Black Lager". Seemed like a Black Ale to me, and reminded me of something like Rogues Morimoto's Soba Black Ale. Poured a murky cloudy dark brown appearance, maybe a hint of red in there too. At first the taste was a little off, or bitter, but grew on me towards the end. A good beer to try, not one of favorites by Left Hand though.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

A solid pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a very dense, tightly beaded, four-finger thic head that belies the relatively low alcohol of this beer. As the head slowly subsides it leaves lots of lacing on the sides of my glass. The head is a lightly browned, creamed-amber color. The beer is a dark, concentrated amber color that could be confused for black in a dark’ish bar; when held up to the light the beer shows a brilliantly clear, deep cranberry hue. A sniff of the aroma from the freshly popped bottle yielded a signature rye spiciness. A deeper inspection of the beer yields sweet, candied malt notes, spicy rye notes, toasted, almost burnt whole grain bread aromas, as well as a significant whole grain character that seems quite wholesome. Hop character contributes a nice sweet-citrus character and in combination with some of the caramelized malt a not of berries. After smelling this for a bit, I realize that much of the candied malt aromatics seem to be induced by citrus hop notes. This is a fairly complex smelling beer, it is only a mix of grain / malt and hop character (no fermentation character to speak of), but it remains quite interesting. I like that despite the ample hop notes, caramelized malt and toasted grain character the spicy rye notes are still able to be quite noticeable.

Thick and viscous feeling as this rolls across my tongue; in fact the texture from the rye is clearly evident, this is most definitely a sipping brew despite the moderate alcohol. Biting hops contribute a bitterness to the finish as well as an orange-zest, ruby red grapefruit and tangerine flavors to the middle of this beer. The hop character is ample, but mixes with a roasted malt character that reminds me of deeply toasted grain, a touch of bitter burnt grain, and even a touch of acidity from the burnt malt; at times the roast grain notes can almost hide the ample citrusy hop character. The hops have an almost bitter citrus oil component to it that turns to pine sap like flavors at times. The spicy rye flavors seem to get a bit lost trying to compete with the dark malt and, especially, the expressive hop notes.

Despite this being ten months old that hop character is still a bit too much in this beer. I do likely a nicely hopped beer from time to time, but here it gets in the way of noticing the nice spicy rye notes and the other malt complexity (the nose was actually more complex than the flavor ends up being). Even the roast malt and the hops seem to not do the best job of playing well together; the two can be just a bit cacophonous in the integration and aren’t nearly as harmonious as one might like. Having said that this is still a nice beer, as with other heavily rye-based beers, the texture can certainly take a bit of getting used to, but it makes for a chewy, hardy-seeming beer that is nice to sip upon.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

This beer was surprisingly viscous at the pour, but didn't come across as overly thick or cloying in the mouthfeel. This is a surprisingly malty lager. Lots of spice from the rye, some slight astringency. A very light roast backs up the rest. Pretty tasty beer.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

This poured a dark brown color with a beige head. The aroma contains some rye along with some chocolate and marshmellows. The flavor contains rye, chocolate, caramel, and oddly more marshmellows. The finish is a mixture of sourness but more sweet than anything. Overall an different and pretty good beer.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Aroma is of sweet malt with some smoked oak as well as some caramel as well as powdered chocolate. Appearance is a deep reddish-burgundy in color when held to the light with a full-sized head on top that is light-tan in color and leaves creamy lacing. Mouthfeel is light-bodied with some complex malty overtones as well as good balance with a finish that is wet-like and creamy. Flavor is of roasted malt as well as some dark caramel with an aftertaste that is wet-like and of rye malt with a finish that is light and smooth as well as creamy and similar to Schwarzbier. Overall, decent brew here but nothing really special but worth trying if you can find it; recommended.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

22 oz bottle. Pours a dark reddish brown with a creamy reddish tan head that goes to a thin film and leaves some lacing.

The aroma is rye malts, some candy-like sugars, some chocolate and a touch of fruits.

The flavor is sweet sugary malts, lots of rye, some fruits and some metallic hop/rye notes. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and a little watery.

Overall, it's not very well balanced - lots of sweetness and rye. I remember it being better on draft.