#351: Mother Derp

Summer is upon us, which in Ireland means it's nearly springtime, which means it's time for saison. This from Glazen Toren arrived in the shop last year alongside three or four stablemates, and is presented in an attractive and only slightly annoying paper wrapping. 

Saison Dupont is still pretty much my touchstone for the style and, as well as matching its abv of 6.5%, Saison d'Erpe-Mere has a similar white pepper-laced wheat biscuit character. This is further improved by a big, pillowy and fluffy body, enhancing those estery qualities before finishing peppery and dry. 

This is endlessly drinkable, like a saison should be, even if that abv would suggest otherwise.

In a completely different vein of saison is Northern Monk's Patrons Project 7.01, a DDH Saison. I was hooked by the label, which is as good a reason to buy a thing as any. What I didn't know until I had the beer in my glass and the label peeled back for info is that this is a New England saison. IPA had it coming, but who knew they would do this to a saison. As such, the beer pours pale and milky as you'd like and gives plenty of sweet and thick citrus fruit, as well as  the also anticipated savoury edge that has flashes of wild garlic. However, these boffins know what they are doing and the Wallonian yeast brings maturity in the form of pepper and, more importantly, does a great job drying the beer up and keeping it sharp and bright above its dank depths.
New England is not really the place I want my saison to be going but, for all my aversion to Brewer's Armpit™, this works rather well and puts to the sword many recent exercises in gluey, sweaty dankness chucked together by the best and brightest in modern craft brewing.

#350: Golden Stones

Alongside Stone Berlin's now more ubiquitous presence in Ireland, a couple of special Californian mothership stragglers were presented last year by Four Corners.

First among them was their Imperial Russian Stout, 2016 edition. It proclaims decadence and luxury and makes a good fist of that with its weight and heft, but the general flavour leaves a bit to be desired; liquorice is the main effect, underlined by a less pleasant overwrought and overcooked coffee. Bitter dark chocolate and folds of sweet malt do their best to round it out but it never strays too far from harshness. Despite this, it does remain drinkable and was very much drank.

I had better results from Old Guardian 2016, their semi-classic barleywine brewed with Pekko hops, a new one on me.  They worked too, if the Bigfoot-esque nose is anything to go by; burnt caramel and brown sugar form the core of a beer otherwise healthily spritzed with the orange zest and spicy resin of an American west coast hop profile. On further tasting that demerara sugar does thicken up to something a bit more complex and malty adding satisfactory weight and balance without seeming too sweet. A rock solid American barleywine is the result, resplendent with crystal clear red complexion and a thick slice of cream, looking every bit as delicious as it tastes.

The barleywine is one to pick up if there are any more extant in the wild, while the stout may actually have benefited from some time to smooth out its harsher edges.