Beer 3 Ravens Rye

This is the return of a beer that first made an appearance in 2010. It's 3 Ravens' take on the pretty rare Roggenbier style of wheat beer from Bavaria that combines a wheat beer yeast with rye malt. Last year's was one of the more intriguing specials to roll out of the Thornbury brewery, blending many of the characteristics you'd expect from a wheat beer accompanied by a distinct, almost peppery spiciness. This year's is one that seems to have got the brewers feeling all florid, as they describe the colour as "burnt sienna" - a description that forced us into a dictionary. It means yellow-brown, apparently. They also talk of a "dense, rocky head leaving delicate lacing on the glass for the duration". On the nose, we're told to expect clove plus hints of cinnamon, carraway and banana bread. In the mouth, it's all about caramel and toffee flavours and (continuing their colourful description) "some distinct pumpernickel bread/rye characteristics" backed up by a hint of noble hop bitterness.