It was a pleasant surprise to see beer from Burning Sky, a brewery that has thus evaded me, turn up in Cork recently. By reputation I had known them for their classic continental styles and I barely lingered over the label of Saison de Fête before making it my choice.
So hasty was I that I had missed the part about the beer being a bit of a mixed ferm job with time spent in wood, and so the wash of lactic acidity that accompanied the first lively sip was a mild shock. Students of the form (or, those who have read Farmhouse Ales by Phil Markowski) will have known that 'authentic' saisons and other farmhouse beers of antiquity would be expected to have this sour edge, so Burning Sky are very much delving into the history books here. In any case, it's delicious. Despite the time spent in oak it doesn't have any of the aged, cellar character of, say, a gueuze, but it is awash with dry grain, mild peppery spice and a flourish of flowery hops. The only age that does show through is a refreshing, good tart cider character that lasts throughout, and it is far more mellow and moreish than the initial prominent sip suggested.
This has more or less everything a farmhouse ale could hope to offer, at least for this palate; noble green-nosed hops, soft black pepper and clove, a beautifully pillowy, multigrain and dry malt composition, and all buoyed by typically effervescent carbonation and laced with tangy fruity acidity.
Saison de Fête is a stunning beer, and even though it wasn't the big bottle of modernly-interpreted-Dupont that I guessed I might be buying, it's all the better for it.
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