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.

Bang for your buck

Rye River's Crafty Brewing Company American Style Pale Wheat Ale arrived in Lidl to much fanfare (and extensive shortages) in late October. I finally tracked some down in the Terenure branch, handed over my €2, and brought it home.

Back in the old days (around 2007), American Wheat Beer meant a travesty of a style, brewed with a weissbier grist but a neutral ale yeast, resulting in an invariably boring grainy outcome. Nowadays, however, "American Style" anything is the signal to expect hops. This one is still using the neutral yeast, though, which I guess is why it's not badged as a hopfenweisse or white IPA.

It's 5% ABV and the hazy orange colour of many an American pale ale. Cascade and Mosaic are the hops, the label helpfully tells us, and it smells enticingly of fresh mandarin and peach. The texture is a little thin for a wheat beer, but it's still nicely soft. Mosaic dominates the flavour with a major caraway seed savouriness and a touch of garlic behind. A little bit of mandarin juice rounds it off, then a pleasantly acidic hop residue burn remains in the aftertaste. It's certainly boldly  flavoured, intense even, but is ultimately quite simplistic in its bombast.

Overall I found it a little too savoury to be properly refreshing, and it's not the first Mosaic-heavy beer I've had that issue with. But it certainly fits in with the other big-flavoured Crafty Brewing beers, and for the price you definitely get your money's worth of hops.