The variation enigma

Rye River looks to have completed the retiring of its McGargles brand. It was hackneyed when they introduced it in 2013 so I'm not sorry to see it go. The new branding is clean and classy and the beers are mostly the same as ever, which is good. Matching the new names to the old is pretty straightforward, though there also appears to be one brand new addition: Backwaters American Wheat. At 6.2% ABV this is stronger than both the former Bill's Wheat IPA and its sort-of successor (different hops) Coastal IPA, as well as the American-style wheat beer they make under the Crafty Brewing label for Lidl.

Backwaters certainly looks darker than both of them, the rich gold of a süffig Märzen or similar central European lager. The aroma is all crunchy fruit candy at first, before bringing a more serious note of bitter grapefruit. The body definitely reflects the ABV, being as full and chewy as many a stronger beer. They haven't called it an IPA but they absolutely could have: it resembles the classic American variety more than it feels like a wheat beer. Maybe it's the low bitterness that stopped them. The Cascade and Strata hops seem to primarily serve to bring more of the Skittles effect, while the main parallel feature is the thick caramel malt. It's crying out for a sharp and cleansing bite in the finish, but that never comes. Ah well.

It's a decent beer, and fully in keeping with the Rye River core range. It fills a poorly-populated mainstream niche of sweet fruit-forward ales of substantial strength. One was plenty, but I will come back to it. Still, the clean crispness of Coastal remains my preference. Thankfully that's still readily available too.