Podcast Companion: Rally Beer Company

 

In Season 9, Episode 58, Cee chatted with the founders of Rally Beer Co, whose mission is to brew beer for an active lifestyle.  They wanted to make beer that supports being active and healthy rather than only detracting from it.  The idea of functional beer can be a tricky thing to navigate, not only because beer is naturally dehydrating and high in calories, but also due to legal restrictions on what you are allowed to put in alcoholic beverages.  They go into this in greater detail on the podcast.  It’s an interesting one, so give it a listen!

What I’ll talk about here, though, is the beers themselves!  They’ve currently got two beers in their lineup; an electrolyte-infused Golden Ale, and a crushable low-calorie Session IPA.  In their aim to create beers that accommodate all kinds of active lifestyles, they’ve also got a non-alcoholic beer in the works, so stay tuned for that.

Trail Blazer

Golden Ale - 4.9%

Trail Blazer is Rally’s flagship beer.  It’s billed as a Golden Ale and is brewed with blackcurrant and Newfoundland sea salt.  As they break down on the podcast, this was not meant to be a typical fruited beer.  The addition of blackcurrant is actually a means to incorporate a natural source of electrolytes into the beer.

It pours with unfiltered haze.  There’s a grainy quality to the malt bill.  The blackcurrant is subtle on the palate but it does leave a background earthy fruitiness.  The salt is likewise subtle, not as overt as you might find in a gose, but the same kind of background saltiness that you might taste in an electrolyte sports drink.  The hop profile is giving an element of citrus zest which goes nicely with both the blackcurrant and the salt, really adding to the refreshing quality of the beer.  A slight tinny metallic flavour is sneaking through but it’s not in your face.  I am impressed with the body they managed to pull off for a sub 5% beer.  The oats have certainly enhanced the mouthfeel.  It’s not a traditional Golden Ale as they admit, but they’ve found an interesting way to incorporate the electrolytic elements into a refreshing and flavourful beer.  I could see crushing one of these after an intense hike.

Extra Mile

Low-Cal IPA - 3.5%

2 - Extra Mile.JPG

It’s a no brainer that beers brewed with an active lifestyle in mind would include a Session IPA. Extra Mile clocks in at 3.5% and only 99 calories in a short can. Brewed with a C-hop combo of Centennial and Citra, it’s boasting a super citrusy aroma with lots of orange and lemon rind, and a kind of wheaty malt character. It has a lot of the characteristics you’d expect from a Session IPA. The carbonation is high, which is a thing I don’t always love about low ABV IPAs, but it’s still drinking nice and fluffy so it’s not as sharp as it can sometimes be. The hop bill is delivering flavours of bitter lemon and orange peel. It’s expectedly light in body but not to the point of being watery. They’ve managed to give it a decent mouthfeel with the oat addition. If you were craving a beer after a long, sweaty run, this is the kind of beer you’d be reaching for. It’s light and refreshing, and you certainly can’t argue with that calorie count.

Rally’s Golden Ale can be found in the LCBO, and Extra Mile is available at The Beer Store.  They can also be found in select grocery stores.  Give them a try for yourself, and check out the podcast to learn more!

Article and photography by Nathan Lefebvre.

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Nathan

Nathan is a craft beer enthusiast from Ottawa, ON. He is the Co-Founder of @TeamLactose, he’s passionate about travelling for beer and he loves talking about beer from Ontario, Quebec and beyond.

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