Beer reviews: Hopkins Sixth Anniversary Rye IPA and Templin Family Giddy up Grisette 

• Mike Riedel

For your New Year's Eve celebration, we here at the Beer Nerd desk have been researching the perfect beers to welcome in 2025. What we found was a classic malty IPA and a slightly soured Belgian farmhouse ale.

Hopkins - Sixth Anniversary Rye IPA: It pours a caramel-white head of a foamy, frothed consistency over a moderately hazy red-amber body. Thin specked sediment generates mild cloudiness and carbonation is moderate; retention is above average and the lacing is medium. Most rye malt lovers can easily identify the bready, spicy characteristics of rye up front, with a mellow sweetness and subtle graininess. Other aromatic notes include a light herbal hop profile with subtle bitterness and fruitiness.

Lightly toasted grainy caramel and peppery, spicy rye collectively form a flavorful malt body, fairly clean despite its assertiveness. Hop notes are herbal, peppered and slightly citrusy, although fainter by comparison with a moderate bitterness. The graininess of the malt bill seems to generate the most balance to the subtle sweetness of the brew. Subliminal undertones include lightly roasted coffee beans and herbal tea. The texture is smooth, mildly dry and peppery. Carbonation is soft, forming a smooth, lightly frothy mouthfeel. Body is medium for the style, but medium/heavy overall, and the 6.6% alcohol presence is moderate.

Verdict: An enjoyable beer by Hopkins and Fisher. They manage to pack a lot of malt flavor into this can, as the rye makes for a thicker, spicier and more peppery body than typical IPAs. This is a worthy try for anybody who wants an IPA with a bit more malt character. I recommend enjoying it as freshly as possible, as the hop flavors do not take long to drop off.

Templin Family - Giddy up Grisette: Chockful of complexity, The Templin Family's latest Grisette spent 16 months in Chardonnay barrels with Rosé must. It starts innocently enough with a canary-yellow appearance, slightly hazy and propped up with light seltzer-like carbonation. Layers of aromatics start off with wild yeast, then move on to citrus peel before rounding out with chardonnay barrels and a whimsy of Rosé must. The Grisette continues with an earthy mustiness, a wine-like tone and a host of citrus, orchard fruit and dried woods.

To taste, the wheat is soft and pillowy, as the faint sweetness evokes sourdough and raw graininess. As the sweetness fades from the tongue, the woodsy earthiness gains command of the middle palate. The spices strike first, but a quick follow-up of lemon and orange are joined by a medley of pear, green apple and white grape for a balance that falls in line with witbier. But its wine barrel treatment brings those vinous chardonnay nuances, along with oak and a pungent taste of attic-like dried oak. It's medium-to-light-bodied, featuring considerably more alcohol (6.5%) than a typical Grisette. That alcohol works well with the fine acidity of wine; the dustiness of fermentation and the oak tannins all suggest a taste built around drinkability, dryness and refreshment. The ale trails with weathered citrus, a dusty woodsiness and a cast of leather and oak.

Verdict: This one is right in the all-day-drinking honey hole: so much citrus flavor, really pale malt presence, and all the funk you could ask for. A little lime dominated, but I think Rosé must was spot-on, and love this where it stands.

Giddy up Grisette is in a 16-ounce can; previous versions came in 750ml. bottles, so the portability option is much improved. Sixth Anniversary Rye IPA is also in a 16-ounce can, and is a one-time-only offering—when it's done, it's gone. Both beers are available at their respective breweries.

As always, cheers!