How did I miss the first 4 installments in the Left Hand Fade to Black series? I don’t know, but I did. If they were as good as the one I’m drinking tonight, Left Hand Fade to Black Volume 5 Black Rye Ale, I really did myself a disservice. I’ll have to look around a bit and see if I can find Volume 4 at least, Rocky Mountain Black Ale; I think I saw some on the shelf at Total Wine not long ago.

Anyway, here I am sipping a brimming mug of Left Hand Fade to Black Volume 5 Black Rye Ale on tap at Taco Mac. It’s very tasty, by the way. Left Hand releases a new beer in the Fade to Black series in late fall of each year, and as you can imagine they showcase dark malts and something else. In this case, that something else is rye. Let’s hop on over to the Left Hand website and see what the brewery has to say about it, shall we?

This Rye Ale boasts a deep dark brown body with an off white head. This dark brew envelopes your nose with aromas of dark coffee, maple wood and hints of dark agave nectar. The flavor is an intense evolution that starts off with nut bread flowing into molasses followed by a taste of licorice. This lands on spicy rye notes all before being washed away by earthy hop, leaving behind a slight black pepper sensation.

Malt: 2-row, Rye, Munich, Crystal Rye, Chocolate Rye and Black Malt

Hops: Centennial and Mt Hood

Good stuff! Left Hand Fade to Black Volume 5 Black Rye Ale has an alcohol content of 7.8% by volume and 40 IBUs. I paid $6.50 for a mug at Taco Mac. Stylistically, it’s a bit hard to peg. Add black malts to an ale and you usually get a porter or stout. The alcohol content here leans towards an imperial porter, but the beer didn’t really have the body those usually do. This one is borderline, but I think I would call it an imperial porter anyway.

Left Hand Fade to Black Volume 5 Black Rye Ale pours to a jet black color with a light creamy tan head on my draft. There’s light licorice in the nose, subtle chocolate and coffee in the palate, a medium bodied texture, more licorice, then grainy spicy rye emerges at the last. The beer has a balanced roasty bitter finish, but not overbearingly so, with a bit of hop bitterness thrown in there as well. It remains smooth and drinkable yet pleasantly roasty bitter as well.

All in all, this is a delicious beer, and the light licorice running all through it might be the best part of it for me. The rye has a hard time overcoming the dark malts, it’s there, but you kind of have to look for it. Left hand did an exceptional black rye lager (Schwarzbier with rye) in 2008 called Terra-rye-zd Black Rye Lager. This was a collaboration with Georgia’s Terrapin brewery, and did a much better job accenting the rye with the dark roasty malt. Still, this is absolutely a beer I would buy again all the same.



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