Beer Forum

Hey guys,

I recently made a Founders Red's Rye PA Clone (I think it is pretty good) that I was planning on entering in an upcoming comp. I hate to just dump it into the Specialty category, but I think that is where it belongs.

It is hopped to about 60 IBU, so while you can taste the Rye it isn't the single highlight. I think that really puts it out of American Rye. And, for the same reason it has no place as a Roggenbeir. It also only has about 17% Rye in the malt bill. Then I think American IPA, but the Rye would drive this out of category I would think.

Any of the BJCP experts, or anybody willing to throw in their two Lincoln's have any thoughts?

Thanks guys.

Founders Reds Rye is actually best categorized as a regular American IPA, Category 14B. A little rye never hurt an IPA, and in my humble opinion, doesn't exclude it from the regular IPA category. Now if you had used 50% rye in there.... that might be another story entirely! But at 14%, nah, it's still just an IPA. Seriously.

dmtaylor wrote:A little rye never hurt an IPA, and in my humble opinion, doesn't exclude it from the regular IPA category. Now if you had used 50% rye in there.... that might be another story entirely! But at 14%, nah, it's still just an IPA. Seriously.

Per the BJCP, "Versions with a noticeable Rye character (“RyePA”) should be entered in the Specialty category." From the OP description, the rye sounds noticeable. Try giving it to a couple people, don't tell them there's rye in it, and see if they pick it up. If they do, definitely go with the specialty category. If not, you can try 14B.

Remember, you could always enter it in both.

Opinion: I don't think you can really taste rye in a beer until you hit some higher threshold of perhaps 25 or 30%. But I guess I don't know this for absolute certain.

If its amber in color you could throw it in american amber, you will get dinked for it being overly bitter. The question is what does it taste like. The intent of a recipe and what the actual beer tastes like can be different. Give us a better description of what the actual beer is like with some commercial complarable examples.

Thanks for all the input

For a little more insight the beer is Modeled after Founder's Brewery (MI) Red's Rye PA. While the Rye isn't at the forefront, due to a good dose of late addition Amarillo and a little Cascade (25, 10, 0, Dry), you can certainly taste the Rye spicyness.

The malt bill also included MO, Munich, some Crystal 55 and 120. It was mashed at 154 and the OG was around 1065. I guess I may have to throw it in American IPA and Specialty and see how it shakes out. It's definitely not going to be an American Amber because I have one that I am very happy with that will already be going in.

Thanks again for all the help gents!!

Well if it's a hop bomb go American ipa but American rye is a broad category which can be aggressively hopped. Enter both categories if you want. Personally in all the competitions I have judged specialty needs to be a little more aggressive and odd to win. I have never had the beer you cloned so I can't give an accurate comparison. Good luck

Wanted to thank you guys for all the help!

The Red's Rye PA got a second in the Specialty category.

It's my first ribbon after entering about 8 beers over the last two years

According to the old rules, I will need to give a little more to the BN this month!!