Saint Arnold Brewing, the oldest craft brewery in Texas, is offering a bit of history with its latest offering in the Icon Series. Saint Arnold Icon Red, set to be released on November 2, 2015, is an American Roggenbier, a fresh take on the Rye Ale style enjoyed for thousands of years in Germany and, like with other beers in the Icon series, it will start to appear on store shelves and on tap as a replacement to the current Icon beer, Saint Arnold Icon Gold.
Roggen is German for ‘rye,’ the key ingredient in this latest Saint Arnold Icon beer. This new beer is similar to others of its style, but it differs from a traditional German Roggenbier, which is dominated by the flavor and aroma of rye, Saint Arnold’s American Roggenbier is softer on the rye element and stronger on the hops, with Cascade and Chinook hops supplying the spice, similar to that of an American pale ale.
Saint Arnold brewer Dennis Rhee explains why be decided this was the best way to balance the beer:
“I wanted to create more balance to allow the other flavors and aromas to shine through, so we limited the rye to about 15 percent of the malt bill,” said Rhee. “The spicy, hearty rye is complemented by the citrusy, piney notes from the hops and the clove phenols and banana esters from the weizen yeast. They also add an unexpected bitterness that you usually don’t see in Roggenbiers.”
The Roggenbier style hasn’t been seen nor heard about for a long time, nearly 500 years, to be exact. The reason it fell out of favor in Germany is due to the Bavarian Beer Purity Law of 1516. Also known as Reinheitsgebot, this law limited brewers to using only malted barley in their grain bills. Rye was therefore not allowed and the style vanished from the German brewing landscape. Roggenbier was rediscovered about 25 years ago and Saint Arnold brewer/founder Brock Wagner sees a great future for this style.
“Rye is a really interesting ingredient that adds new dimensions to beer flavors, just like it does when baking bread, which is what we showcased earlier in the year with Saint Arnold Icon Blue – Rye IPA,” said Wagner. “The Icon Series allows us to be honor beer styles we appreciate while still being creative, in this case starting with a beer style that is literally thousands of years old and giving it a twist to reflect modern tastes.”
The Saint Arnold Icon Series is a line of rotating beers that complement the brewery’s year-round and seasonal offerings. Saint Arnold Icon Red features a striking metallic red and black label with an image of the brewery’s namesake, St. Arnold of Metz, the patron saint of brewers.
Here are the specifications for Saint Arnold Icon Red:
– Original Gravity: 1.059
– Final Gravity: 1.014
– Alcohol Content: 5.8% ABV
– Bitterness: 52 IBUs
The next beer in the Saint Arnold Icon Series will be Saint Arnold Icon Blue – Coffee Porter, which is scheduled for release in February 2016. Interested craft beer fans can learn more about the Saint Arnold Icon Series at http://www.saintarnold.com/beers/icon.html.
Follow Saint Arnold via social media:
On Twitter, follow @saintarnold
On Facebook, like www.facebook.com/saintarnold
On Instagram, follow @saintarnoldbrewing
About Saint Arnold Brewing Company
Saint Arnold Brewing’s 16 brews are made and sold by the company’s staff of 80 dedicated employees. Ranked 46th on the Brewers Association list of top craft breweries, Saint Arnold was listed by USA Today as one of the “10 great places to see what’s brewing in beer,” and Smart Meetings magazine named it among the “Top 5 breweries to host an event.” Saint Arnold is located at 2000 Lyons Avenue and its brewery tour and tasting is offered every weekday at 3:00 P.M. and Saturdays starting at 11 A.M. For more information on Saint Arnold’s eight year-round and five seasonal beers as well as root beer, log on to www.saintarnold.com.
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