I have a fondness for imperial red ales. There’s just something wonderful about the tasty red stewed malt flavors to begin with, but ramp them up in a beer until you hit, oh I don’t know, a gravity yielding around 8% or so alcohol by volume and you have a real treat. If you really want to make something extra special, you could toss in some rye malt to add some spice. And that’s just wahtc Chicago’s Finch’s Beer Company did with their Fascist Pig Ale Ale.

Here’s what Finch’s says about Fascist Pig, from their website:

Fascist Pig is a deep red, malt-forward ale brewed with plenty of caramel malts and a touch of rye for a hint of spice. This big American red ale is brewed and dry-hopped with palisade, an earthy and somewhat floral, mentholated American variety, and Zythos, an American blend that leans strongly toward Amarillo, Simcoe and Cascade varieties.

Finch’s Fascist Pig Ale has an alcohol content of (you guessed it) 8% by volume. The bottle also tells me it has an original gravity of 18.2 Plato which is about 1.073 conventional. IBU count is 72, and I picked up a 22-ounce bottle here in Canton for $6.99.

Finch’s Fascist Pig Ale pours to a dark ruby red color with a medium head of tightly packed bubbles and a soft sweet malty nose with strong suggestions of grainy rye. Taking a sip, the beer has a thick chewy caramel and stewed malt flavor up front, but the rye soon takes over, spicy and grainy and a lot like a fresh hunk of chewy rye bread. The hops emerge at the last, herbal, grassy, peppery, and drying, sharply bitter and lingering slightly on the tongue at the last along with some of the rye spice. With the light warming alcohol the hops serve nicely to leave this beautiful beer long and dry.

What a wonderful red rye ale that so nicely accents all its elements: the caramel malt, the grainy rye, the herbal grassy hops. Imperial reds can sometimes taste a lot like barleywines but the rye certainly prevents that here. My bottle is about a year old and I think it’s probably all the better for the aging. Just a wonderful beer, and a deal too at today’s prices.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft

(G)=Growler

 

 



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