I'm someone who definitely judges a beer by their cover when I'm at a beer store and there's hundreds of options and I don't know what to pick. So, when I saw a craft beer in a Stubby bottle... one that's freaking 500mL, I had to buy it, it also helped that the label had a 70s pornstache kind of vibe to it.
Today I'm checking out Microbrasserie Les Grand Bois' La 4e Dimension Hopfenroggen. La 4e Dimension is a hoppy version of a German-style roggenbier, AKA Rye Beer. The beer tops out at 6.0% ABV and I love that it's in a 500mL stubby.. if I haven't made that clear already.
Appearance: Hopfenroggen pours a hefty, cloudy orange body with a light amount of sediment to it. There's a good finger and a half's worth of off-white head on top that doesn't really seem to move at all, only leaving behind some lacing on the glass as the beer gets sampled.
Aroma: The hop presence was definitely the first thing I got out of this beer - it's a floral, citrusy, yet bitter hop profile - good deal of pine, a bit of grapefruit, a bit of lemon and a bit of other tropical fruit presence. There's a bit of a scent that reminds me of summer - a bit of a bug spray aroma, which I'm thinking is from the medley of the hops and the malts. The malt profile is a moderate bitterness that gives off that rich, earthy and sweet presence that I can only describe as rye.
Taste: Full on yeasty at the beginning, giving off notes of bubblegum and sourdough. The hop presence is abundant yet again, giving off notes of pine, lemon, grapefruit and even a hint of pineapple at the end. The rye malt profile is giving off a rich, earthy, gritty flavour with a bit of a light roastiness to it, some pepper spiciness popping up once in a while.
Overall Thoughts: Beers brewed with rye are still far too uncommon in this day and age, so I'm glad I picked this out just by the label - it has a pleasant bitter/earthy rye profile to it, yet combines a new era tropical hop presence to it with a good amount of yeastiness. It's sweet yet has a good amount of bitter hoppiness, a bit of peppery spice and earthiness from the rye, and a bit of a bubble gum presence from the yeast - all in all, an interesting combination!
http://lesgrandsbois.com/
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