Rye Beer is anomalous.

[spiderplanet]

Today, we make Dry Rye Roggenbier. It was in the wheat beer section at Midwest and it looked interesting. Rye beer is a European style that existed mostly before and after the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but not commonly during. As a style, it was severely restricted under feudalism.

Here's some information about beers that include rye grains, from the German Beer Institute.

Rye ales declined in the Middle Ages in large part because the absolute rulers of the day decided that certain grains, such as rye and wheat, ought to be reserved for making solid, rather than liquid bread. Especially in years with a poor harvest, the lords reasoned that the people might be foolish enough to prefer imbibing and starving to eating and abstaining. This logic was also one of the hidden motives behind the now much-hailed Bavarian Beer Purity Law of 1516, which legislated the exclusive use of barley in beer-making. Barley was chosen not just because it was deemed better suited for beer-making, but also because it was deemed ill-suited for bread-making. In the traditional feudal system of social stratification, therefore, rye was eventually restricted to being a dependable bread grain, and barley a dependable beer grain for the unwashed masses, while the more elegant wheat became the luxury bread grain and beer grain mostly for the high and mighty.

The grains for this beer are a mix of rye, wheat, barley and oats and the yeast is a wheat beer yeast. There are only two ounces of hops, most of the flavor comes from the grains and it's purported to have hints of "rye bread" flavor. It sounds very interesting.

For me, in hopes that I remember - This style prefers bottle conditioning instead of kegging.

I very much look forward to making bread with the spent grains from this one.