It’s an odd thing: of the four beers that Widmer sent me last month, I drank the O’Ryely IPA (latest in their Rotator IPA series) about a week afterwards and was sure that I had written up the review of it here. Apparently, I had not, but I was so sure that I had, that I started writing the review for the Lemongrass Wheat Ale and was going to reference this review—and naturally couldn’t find it.

Sign of too much drinking? Let’s hope not!

As the latest of the Rotator series of IPAs Widmer is brewing, O’Ryely is—as the name implies—brewed with rye as a major component, and is 6.4% alcohol by volume. Widmer’s own description reads:

O’Ryely IPA is a big, punchy IPA with notable hoppiness and just a touch of caramel malty sweetness. Brewed with rye and Nelson Sauvin hops imported from New Zealand’s South Island, the beer features subtle rye spiciness and fruity, berry-like aroma and flavor.

They futher list all the malts and hops used: (malts) Pale, Carapils, caramel 10, rye, caramel rye; (hops) Alchemy, Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy.

Appearance: Dark copper in color, bright and clear, off-white head that leaves a bit of lace but not too sticky.

Smell: Nice floral hop nose, with a hint of cattiness but also pungent, damp, maybe almost dank. Slight tangy-ness to the hops.

Taste: Spicy profile right up front—not pie spices or anything like that (I have pumpkin beers on the brain) but herbal from the earthy hops and from the rye malt, which is bready and a touch peppery. Soft, pleasant malt profile on the tongue with a nice earthy bitterness rolling off of that.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, soft, very easy to drink.

Overall: Very pleasant and drinkable, I like how it all comes together.

On BeerAdvocate, it scores an overall grade of A- (only six reviews however). On RateBeer, it scores 3.59 out of 5 and is in their 81st percentile.