Saison

La Sirène Paradoxe

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Australia is one of those places that’s supposed to have a great brewery scene and drinking culture (as one might expect from a former penal colony), but thanks to taxation, regulation, and trifling things like import duties, we don’t see a lot of their stuff in the U.S. Sure, you’ll see some overpriced bottles floating around here or there, but with the U.S. brewery count passing the 5000 mark, most beer dorks over here seem content with exploring their local environs rather than taking a flier on some obscure Aussie farmhouse ale like this. Well not at Kaedrin! We just had to know if the whirlpool swirling wort in a counter-clockwise fashion made a difference. Or something like that.

La Sirene Paradoxe

La Sirène Paradoxe – Pours a cloudy pale yellow color with a finger of white, bubbly head that sticks around for a bit. Smells very nice, tart, vinous fruit, a little funky earth, a hint of spice, maybe even some tropical citrus hops. Taste has that same tart, vinous fruit, less intense than the nose would imply but nice, a little bit of earth and spice in the middle, finishing on a tart note. Mouthfeel is light bodied and well carbonated, goes down easy. Overall, this is a solid offering, could use a little more body and intensity, but it’s quite nice! Is it worth traversing the seven seas to obtain? Probably not, but it’s worth a shot if you like this sort of thing and it’s conveniently available. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 4.8% ABV bottled (375 ml). Drank out of a charente glass on 2/17/17.

I would certainly give La Sirène another shot, but alas, I have no immediate plans to do so. One never knows, though, and I’d obviously like to try more beer from Down Undah (as this was apparently my first! (Not counting, Fosters, I guess.))

de Garde Double Feature

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One of the most interesting breweries to open their doors in the past few years, Tillamook, Oregon’s de Garde brewing has been making waves in the beer dork community. I got my first taste of their wares at a share last year, their Yer Bu (one of many Berliner Weisse inspired variants) was incredibly nimble at just 2.3% ABV and yet turned out to be one of the highlights of the night. Since then, I’ve heard enough about these folks to know that they make beer that’s worth seeking out.

What makes them so special? While some breweries have worked with spontaneous fermentation (notably Allagash and Jester King, amongst others), it appears that de Garde is the only U.S. brewery to rely solely on spontaneous fermentation for their beer. And what does that mean? They don’t use laboratory cultured yeast, they simply cool wort in a coolship, which is basically a huge, wide pan that exposes the wort to naturally occuring yeast and microflora, after which the wort is dumped into oak barrels of varying sizes and left to slumber until ready to be blended. As Pat’s Pints opined, “the brewers at de Garde pitch yeast with the same frequency that the Trappist monks in Westvleteren have sex.”

I’ve had discussions with wine-loving friends about terroir in beer, and while I usually point towards hops in said discussions, I think this sort of brewery deserves mention. It turns out that the year round temperate climate mixed with a mess of rivers and estuaries leading into the nearby Tillamook Bay has created conditions ideal for spontaneous fermentation. Indeed, they even experimented for over a year in trying to find a location for the brewery:

So we took wort and exposed it in different areas up and down the coast and tracked fermentation circuits over the course of a year or more. We narrowed it down to a few places and proceeded to do more trials to see if there’s consistency. Finally, we narrowed it down to Tillamook for the most viable opportunity. In the US we don’t have the benefit of a long history of this truly wild and natural brewing. So it took this extra exploration to see what works.

Tillamook: it’s not just for cheese. Anyway, that’s some serious dedication there, and from what I’ve seen, it’s paid off. I’ve had small pours of a few beers from them (all uniformly excellent), but these are the first I’ve managed to procure for myself. They aren’t the most prized releases and indeed are among the offerings that take the least amount of time to produce, but they’re quite nice nonetheless and someday I hope to procure the more lambic-like releases (which they seem to be gravitating towards anyway). For now, we’ve got saisons!

de Garde Saison Facile

de Garde Saison Facile – A wild farmhouse ale aged in an oak foeder – Pours a clearish honey gold color with a finger or two of fluffy, medium bubbled white head that leaves some lacing as I drink. Smells nice, big waft of musty Belgian yeast spice, a little earthy funk, some fruity notes. Taste hits the sweet, tart, lemony fruit notes much harder than the nose would imply, but that yeasty spice and light funk are still there, with a light sour bite in the finish. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, crisp, and effervescent, not quite dry but the carbonation lends that impression, with low to moderate acidity. Overall, a rock solid foudred saison. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 7% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a teku glass on 2/3/17.

de Garde Petit Blanc

de Garde Petit Blanc – A tart farmhouse ale aged in oak with late harvest Riesling grapes – Pours a clear golden color with a finger of fluffy, dense head that quickly dissipates. Smells nice, lots of spicy Belgian yeast, a little oak, plenty of vinous fruit. Taste is sweet, vinous, fruity, with some spice in the middle, followed by oak and a little tartness emerging in the finish. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, medium bodied, less dry than the Facile but quite nice. Overall, another great saison offering. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 7.1% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a tulip glass on 2/10/17.

Must. Get. Moar. Would love to try their more lambic-inspired beers. Alas, those seem quite prized (see: The Broken Truck) and until production increases, I’m guessing it’ll be saisons and Bu variants for me. I know, boo hoo, poor me.

Fantôme Strange Ghost

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Explicitly calling this “Strange” may seem a bit oxymoronic. I mean, we are talking about Fantôme here, right? But even among Fantôme’s eclectic fare, this beer does indeed stand out. That’s a bold statement, to be sure, but one the beer lives up to. As per usual, what sets this apart is difficult to determine (the official description just sez that it’s brewed with “spices and herbs”) and judging from reviews, it seems like this most recent release is different from previous releases (which supposedly had a more minty, herbal component). It’s labeled a saison because lol, style doesn’t matter when it comes to something like this, might as well call it saison:

Fantôme Strange Ghost

Fantôme Strange Ghost – Pours a deep, rusty amber color with a finger or two of fluffy, off-white head. Smells sweet and spicy, maybe some fruit zest, hints of that characteristic Tome funk. Taste hits that spice pretty hard, not really sure what it is actually, but it’s tasty. Some darker malt presence, though again, it defies precise identification. It gets a bit of tart fruit juice and funk towards the middle and finishes with a tangy, not-quite-sour bite. (Update: I saw someone mention tamarind in reference to this beer, and that feels kinda right for part of the taste, but who knows? It’s not like I have tamarind all the time, so I’ll just leave this as an aside written after the original tasting notes.) Mouthfeel is highly carbonated, effervescent, light acidity. Overall, it is indeed strange (even for a Tôme) and it took me a while to wrap my head around it, but it’s quite pleasant. A- or B+. Take your pick. I don’t even know anymore.

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (capped and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 2/4/17. Vintage: 2016.

I love digging into new Tômes. Always a pleasure. I don’t have anything new in the immediate pipeline, but I’m always on the lookout for different releases.

Draai Laag Geestelijke

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Draai Laag is roughly translated from the Dothraki as “turncoat”. Or is it translated from Dutch? Probably Dutch, but I’m betting founder and brewer Dennis Hock named his daughter Khaleesi. No? Damn. Still, the “turncoat” moniker stems from both a local historical figure and a more metaphorical reference to Draai Laag’s unconventional practices, like not filling growlers or solely focusing on wild ales. As far as I can see, everything these folks make uses some form of wild yeast (and bacterial beasties), some brews even relying on spontaneous fermentation.

The aforementioned brewer Dennis Hock has been brewing since he was a teenage science nerd fascinated with the concept fermentation. Coming from a strict teetotaling family, he even promised not to drink what he was making until he turned 21 (perhaps a dubious claim, but one that makes for a nice story), using only sight, smell, and tasting notes drinking-age neighbors to hone his craft. Once he reached drinking age, he began exploring the world between military deployments, eventually returning home to build a brewery, starting with a whopping $800 brewing system made from salvaged spare parts. They’ve obviously grown since then, but their brewhouse is still hand-made and fits with their unconventional ethic.

They’ve been around since 2009, but despite their relative proximity to Kaedrin HQ (they’re just north of Pittsburg), this is my first taste of their wares. Geestelijke (Dothraki Dutch for clergy or monk) is a straightforward farmhouse ale made with pilsner malt and Draai Laag’s signature Wild Angels yeast strain, cultivated from the Pittsburg air. It supposedly doesn’t like fermenting fruit or mixed fermentation, but works wonders all on its own, as we’re about to find out:

Draai Laag Geestelijke

Draai Laag Geestelijke – Pours a hazy golden yellow color with a couple of fingers of fluffy, fizzy, short-lived white head. Smells sweet, tart fruit, pineapple, light funk, yeast spice. Taste also hits sweet, fruity notes with a light funk that I’m having trouble describing (earthy but in a different way than normal, which makes sense given the unique yeast strain here), and some spice. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, highly carbonated but cut a bit by booze. Overall, this is very nice! B+

Beer Nerd Details: 9% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a flute glass on 1/13/16.

So that’s a nice first impression and now that I know more about these folks, I’m definitely curious to try more of their stuff. Stay tuned!

Brasserie Dunham Assemblage Numero 1

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Brasserie Dunham is located southeast of Montreal, near the Vermont border. You know how dorks like me make the pilgrimage to Vermont to get good beer? Well, I have some Vermont friends who’ve raved about making the pilgrimage to Dunham. This certainly speaks volumes. As such, when I saw their beers showing up on shelves in the US, I pounced.

This beer is first in a series of blends (it’s an assemblage or “assembly”, eh). This entry is composed of a 50/50 blend of Propolis (a saison made with wheat, honey, and citrus peels) and an American-style pale ale; the blend is then spiked with Brett and aged in Zinfandel barrels. My kinda rustic, lets dive in:

Brasserie Dunham Assemblage Numero 1

Brasserie Dunham Assemblage Numero 1 – Not a gusher, but it started foaming a bit and would have overflowed if I wasn’t careful. Pours a murky golden orange color with a finger or two of white, fluffy head, good retention, a bit of lacing. Smells great, earthy funk, Belgian yeast spice (cloves, coriander), a little vinous fruit. Taste is sweet and spicy, funky earthiness kicking in during the middle, finishing with a bit of a dry, bitter bite. Mouthfeel is highly carbonated and effervescent, medium bodied and dry. Overall, the pale ale adds perhaps a bit too much bitterness, but this is really quite nice nonetheless! B+ or A-

Beer Nerd Details: 5.5% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a charente glass on 12/10/16.

Definitely a brewery to watch out for, and I’m certain I’ll be seeking out more of their stuff soon enough. It’s been a while since a Canadian beer has made it to the blog. I’m glad these folks helped me remedy that, and let’s hope I can keep it up…

Fantôme Artist 2

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This is the second in a series of beers meant to highlight a young Belgian artist, Gaelle Boulanger. There are five planned bottlings, each featuring work from Gaelle. Once the bottles are gone, the art will be auctioned off for her benefit. I don’t know any details about this particular piece of art, but it looks like a chart of some kind. I shall dub this piece “Stock Market”. I’m sure Gaelle would be appalled, so let’s move on.

The beer is, well, who the hell knows? (Serious knowers know!) Dany describes it as a “Strange beer”. It’s dark, it’s funky, might as well just call it a saison because lol, style definitions don’t matter. But hey, it’s a great looking bottle, fancy foil too. Here goes nothing:

Fantôme Artist 2

Fantôme Artist 2 – Pours a very dark amber color, almost brown, with several fingers of bubbly light tan head. Not a gusher, but hugely carbonated, and I poured very carefully so as to minimize head and still ended up with a lot. Smells beautiful, sweet, fruity funk, a little musty earth, spicy, maybe even some chocolate, like chocolate covered fruit. Taste hits those sweet and fruity funk notes up front before hitting spice and earthy funk in the middle along with some mitigated dark malt notes and returning to that fruit in the finish, which adds a nice tart note. Mouthfeel is highly carbonated, crisp, and effervescent, medium bodied, relatively dry, though the tart note keeps things sweet enough. Absolutely does not taste like a 10% ABV beer, alcohol hidden well. Overall, this is fabulous, one of the best dark saisons I’ve had. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 10% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a flute glass on 11/18/16.

As always, Fantôme is an experience. Maybe one more bottle in the pipeline. And hopefully more Artist bottles will show up soon…

A Trip to Hidden River Brewing Company

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Hidden River brewing opened its doors a little over a year ago. So many local breweries have opened recently that I’m having a hard time keeping up, but I’d been hearing some buzz about these beers of late. These guys aren’t in the most convenient location (Douglassville, PA, not quite the middle of nowhere, but far enough from me), and I’m the worst so it took me a while to get in gear, but now that I’ve been there, I will most definitely be making return trips.

Hidden River Sign

It’s still a tiny operation, located in the beautiful Historic Brinton Lodge. It’s a deceptively large facility though, broken up into a small bar area, several dining rooms, and a pretty great outdoor bar. The lodge is supposedly haunted and the owners apparently run various events along those paranormal lines, which I’ll most certainly have to take advantage of next Halloween. So it’s a great space, and the decor works too.

Charcuterie Plate

The food menu is somewhat limited, but everything I had was great (charcuterie plate and a panini, great bread too). A solid and ever-rotating taplist helps things along (more on that below). All in all, it reminds me a lot of the original Tired Hands location, before the hype and expansions.

I’ve now been there twice, and while I didn’t take formal tasting notes, I’ll give you a broad overview of what I got:

Hidden River Green Mass

Green Mass – A 5.9% pale ale made in the Northeast IPA mold, super cloudy, juicy hops, and so on. Would love to try a higher ABV version of this, but this was quite a nice first impression.

Hidden River Fresh Press

Fresh Press – A 6% dry-hopped saison, very nice. Again with the super-cloudy beer (does look like orange juice) and juicy hop character, along with some nice saison yeast character. Definitely a highlight.

Hidden River Kings Watch

King’s Watch – An 8% Baltic Porter that really impressed me. I’ve often noted that many local breweries aren’t great at dark beer, but this is a really impressive take. Not quite HF Everett or Maine King Titus, but along those lines. Fantastic.

Hummingbird High – A 9.5% DIPA, this one doesn’t quite live up to the expectation built up by my first three tries. It’s certainly a fine beer, but not a top tier DIPA (and, perhaps tellingly, seemed like less of a Northeast IPA style).

Golden Oak Magic – I suppose if they were really aping Tired Hands, they would have named this “Golden Oak Magick”, heh. A 4.8% saison brewed with Shiitake and Black Poplar mushrooms, cilantro, and a bunch of lime zest, this one appears extremely clear, and has a more traditional saison yeast character too it, with some savory earthiness (but not really funky and you can’t exactly pick out the mushrooms…)

Melt Banana Face – A 7.6% IPA made with, you guessed it, bananas. And they do come through strong, though that means they sorta overwhelm the Northeast IPA base. All in all, a very interesting beer, would drink again, but sorta one-dimensional…

Hidden River Rum Barrel Aged Mapping the Past

Rum Barrel Aged Mapping the Past – An 11% English Barleywine aged on coconuts in Rum Barrels. My initial reaction was of sugary, rum soaked raisins, but once I figured out the coconut component (didn’t see that in the description before ordering), I really started to get that too. Not sooper boozy or anything, and could probably use a little more malt backbone, but it’s still a pretty fantastic offering that I enjoyed immensely…

So there you have it, everything was very good to great, one of the better hit to miss ratios I’ve seen at a new(ish) brewery in a while. I greatly look forward to sampling more of their wares in the future. I do not look forward to making the trek out there, but the results do seem worth it!

Fantôme Desert Ghost

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Good news for Fantôme dorks! It appears that Dany is looking to step up operations, maybe invest in a new brewing system, and start putting out creative new offerings on the regular. Dany being Dany, his wording struck a chord, and now there’s a new facebook group called Serious Knowers (of all and nothing) and memes about Master Knowers and I didn’t think it possible to love Fantôme any more. As per usual, I’m always on the lookout for more Fantôme, and I’ve recently come into a few new bottles of stuff. Most exciting. Someday I hope to be a Master Knower.

This beer is a collaboration with Arizona Wilderness, who recently visited Belgium and brought along some ingredients foraged from the Sonoran Desert to brew with Fantôme. Of course, Dany won’t tell you what these ingredients are; will probably just respond with the typical “Secrets Secrets” answer. I guess we’ll just have to go and drink the sucker and see if we recognize anything:

Fantôme Desert Ghost

Fantôme Desert Ghost – Pours an orange hued gold color with half a finger of head that quickly fades to a cap, then sticks around for a while. Smells great, that pear-like earthy funk is back, some sweet floral aromas too. Taste is quite nice, sweet (perhaps some residual sugars hanging around), that fruity yeast feel, pears and the like, a little bit of earth, some spicy yeast too, with a tart bite towards the finish but not really sour. Fantôme’s yeast is still distinct, but really doing well these days. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, a little low on the carbonation (could really use more), no real acidity. Overall, would like more carbonation, but otherwise fantastic. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 7% ABV bottled (750 ml corked and capped). Drank out of a tulip glass on 11/11/16.

Always an experience. I’ve got another interesting new Tome in the pipeline, and frankly the recent bottles of regular Fantôme and Dark White were fantastic. Really looking forward to wider availability of their stuff. You will most certainly be seeing more about Fantôme in the future of this blog…

Burlington Peach of Mind

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During the leadup to Halloween, I get in the mood by watching tons of horror movies. I usually snag some seasonal beer to pair with my spooky viewing habits, but there are multiple approaches to pairing beer. Pumpkin beers and Märzens are great complements, but you can also gain traction by contrasting gruesome visuals with bright and refreshing beer, which is where this peach dosed saison comes in. He says, as if pairing beer with movies is a real thing.

This is a saison brewed with Saccharomyces Bruxellensis Trois (formerly known as Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois, so changed due to some genetic sequencing research – all the gory details are available if you want to really nerd out), which lends “characteristics of mango and pineapple”, which seem like a good complement to the peaches and plums added to this beer. Let’s dive in:

Burlington Peach of Mind

Burlington Peach of Mind – Pours a cloudy orangish yellow with a finger or two of fluffy white head. Smells very nice, saison spice, a hint of musty funk, with a heaping helping of those peaches and other fruity esters. Taste hits the yeasty spice notes lightly up front with some earthy character and fruit (peach is there, but it’s not overpowering) emerging quickly and lasting through the finish, which has a nice tart note to it (though not full-on sour, as is proper). Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied, well carbonated, low acidity, bright and refreshing. Overall, a well executed, bright peach saison with hint of funk. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 6.5% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a flute glass on 10/7/16. Bottled: 8/4/16.

My supplies secured during Operation Cheddar V are rapidly dwindling. Only a couple things left, including one more Burlington sour that I can’t believe I haven’t drank yet. Look for a review of that in the nearish future. In the meantime, I’ve got a big cache of IPA reviews piling up that I think you’ll be interested in next week.

Casita Cerveceria Del Árboles

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Casita Cerveceria is a contract brewery (funny and yet welcome that they don’t go for the formerly trendy “Gypsy” designation) mostly based at Hill Farmstead. Let that sink in for a moment. It turns out that brewer Ryan Witter-Merithew has a long history with Sean Hill, having collaborated on Hill’s initial run of Grassroots beers in Europe as well as working together at Denmark’s Fanø Bryghus. Heck, rumor has it that Hill considered him a sort of unofficial successor in case of tragedy (“I told my brother Darren that if I died or something he should reach out to Ryan and have Ryan take over the brewery.”). After a stint at England’s Siren brewing (where he again collaborated with Hill Farmstead on that Lemon Cello IPA), Witter-Merithew returned to the US to work at Hill Farmstead for a spell, and now he’s heading up his own operation, using some of the excess capacity from Hill’s recent expansion.

My one prior exposure to Casita Cerveceria beer was something I didn’t even realize at the time, a collaboration with Stillwater called On Fleek, a big 13% Imperial Stout that was wonderful (I neglected to take notes whilst drinking because I was not expecting it to be anything particularly special – I was wrong, because I am the worst).

Del Árboles (Spanish for “The Trees” and featuring a nifty, anthropomorphized evergreen on the label) is a saison brewed with Juniper, Pine, and Cedar. It’s also brewed in collaboration with another contract brewery operation centered in Vermont called Wunderkammer. The label sez: Del Árboles tienen ojos, meaning that the trees have eyes. Ok, this is getting scary, let’s see how it stacks up:

Casita Cerveceria Del Arboles

Casita Cerveceria Del Árboles – Pours a hazy golden orange color with a finger of white head and ok retention. Smells fabulous, lots of funky, fruity twang, some more earthy notes, a healthy dose of oak. Taste starts sweet, some spicy phenols, earthy funk but not quite barnyard (perhaps the spruce and juniper give it a fruity, floral kick), finishing with a well balanced sourness and oak. I say oak, but I can’t find anything saying it’s barrel aged, so perhaps it’s cedar? I don’t know cedar well. Whatever, it has the character of something barrel aged. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, highly carbonated and dry up front, but that lessens as the sour acidity takes over in the finish. Overall, this is a very well done saison in the Hill Farmstead mold and certainly compares favorably, which is high praise indeed. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 5% ABV bottled (375 ml). Drank out of a wine glass on 9/16/16. Brewed in May 2016.

Two beers, two winners. So yes, this is a brewery to look out for. I know I will be hunting down more as soon as possible. Alas, I only have more of this beer readily available. I know, boo hoo, right?