Beer 353/365 – Fantome Saison

Style: Saison

ABV: 8.0%

Purchased at: House of 1000 Beers – New Kensington, Pa

What makes this beer different: Best Saison I have ever tried (Although I have not had that many)

Will I be drinking this again: Would love to, but at $14 a bottle its a bit steep.

Grade: A

10/27/2010: I bought this almost a year ago when I was first really getting into the craft beer scene. I didn’t know much about Saison’s at that point, but knew Fantome was one of the best out there. I was surprised that House of 1000 beers had it, as most Pittsburgh bottle shops don’t carry it. If you live in the Pittsburgh area you should definitely check this place out. They have a lot of stuff most pgh places don’t get. Figured this was a good time to drink it considering Halloween is just around the corner.

Lemon is the main smell I am getting in the aroma, musty, and some spice. The flavor is super complex, but really good. Lemon sour patch kids, floral, yeasty, spicy, zesty. All of the flavors blend well together, but not one of them is too dominant which makes this amazingly drinkable. No sign at all of the 8% ABV. Mouthfeel is creamy, medium body and nice carbonation. If this were $10 a bottle I would buy a ton of it, but the price tag is a little steep.

Picture of the day: If it weren’t for CNN.

Beer 247/365 – Surly Cynic Ale

Style: Saison / Farmhouse Ale

ABV: 6.7%

Purchased at: Traded for it

What makes this beer different: One of the least funky/sour saisons I have ever had.

Will I be drinking this again: If it was locally accessible, but it wasn’t quite good enough to trade for.

Grade: B+

7/13/2010: Beer #2 for the Surly Week! Below is the description on the can.

Oh great, a fizzy yellow beer in a can, that’s just what the craft beer world needs! CynicAle melds Old World ingredients in a new school style. French malted barley, English oats and Belgian yeast create honey and black pepper flavors. Lively Slovenian hops provide the floral, apricot and peach notes. Toss your doubts away, toss one back and enjoy!

Gotta be honest, I’m not getting a lot of the honey/floral/apricot notes in the nose/flavor of this beer at all. Black pepper is there though! The smell is only mildly sour, but not too much so. The flavor comes of as something I would call a “Saison Light”. Grainy, slightly funky, but very drinkable. I get a little bit of fruit but can’t put my finger on exactly what it is. Well carbonated and very light for the style, and really doesn’t have that belgian creamy mouthfeel to it.

Picture of the day: I’m not sure this is the kind of sandwich I would order from McDonald’s.

Beer 245/365 – Saison Dupont

Style: Saison / Farmhouse Ale

ABV: 6.50%

Purchased at: Melt Bar and Grilled – Cleveland OH

What makes this beer different: Not as funky as some saison/farmhouse’s that I have had, but this makes it very drinkable

Will I be drinking this again: Yes this was good stuff

Grade: A-

7/11/2010: Beware this is a long post. Our last stop in Ohio was at Melt Bar and Grilled in Cleveland. I am a huge Man Vs. Food fan, and he tried to take on the Grilled Cheese Challenge; 13 different cheese on one sammich. I love cheese but thats too much. The wait for a table was 2 hours, so we waited for a bar seat and grabbed some random beers along the way.

They actually have a really good beer selection. I am known for trying crazy black and tan mixtures, and I came up with one that was pretty freaking amazing; Southern Tier Creme Brulee with Strongbow Cider. It was like liquid apple pie. As far as food goes I ordered the North Coastshores (click for photo); crab cakes, wilted garlic spinach, roasted red pepper, herbed cream cheese and havarti cheese. Cara ordered the Westside Monte Cristo; honey ham, smoked turkey, swiss, american, beer battered, mixed berry preserves. Both were amazing.

I am relatively new to the Saison/Farmhouse style, but one thing I am learning is that they usually smell way more sour/funky than they taste. This is the case with Saison Dupont. The flavor is lemony, hoppy, and only mildy “funky”. Not a ton of hops, but just enough to let you know they are there. Lots of carbonation make this very drinkable. The flavors aren’t real intense either, but are very pleasant. It took me way too long to try this beer. This actually convinced me that I might have to try a Saison for my next home-brew batch.

Picture of the day: Should this seriously be considered breaking news in America?.

Beer 170/365 – Great Divide Colette Farmhouse Ale

Style: Saison / Farmhouse Ale

ABV: 7.3%

Purchased at: Giant Ginger Kevin from Colorado brought this to me right from the brewery.

What makes this beer different: Honestly it tasted like a slightly sour franzy

Will I be drinking this again: Yes, he brought me back a couple

Grade: B+

4/27/2010: So I know that technically you aren’t supposed to drink this style of beer from this glass, but it was new and it matched the brewery so I had to. Thanks to Kevin for bringing the beer/glass back from the brewery for me, this might be my new favorite glass.

Colette is pretty funky smelling, sour and lemon also. I tried this and for some reason this instantly reminded me of a sour Franziskaner. I made my franzy loving roommate try it and without telling him what it tasted like, and he said the same exact thing “Tastes like a sour Franzy.” There is also a bit of hops going on here along with the yeasty citrus flavors. Over average carbonation but I think it works here. Also I would never peg this at a 7.3% ABV beer, hides it very well.

Picture of the day: Wow how true is this. The Evolution of Good Samaritanism .

Beer 82/365 – Pretty Things Jack D’or

Style: Saison / Farmhouse Ale

Purchased at: Received in a trade

What makes this beer different: Its funky as hell, in a good way

Will I be drinking this again: Yes

Grade: B+

1/29/2010: Got this one in a trade with jlindros on BA… It was my first ever beer trade and now I am addicted. If you are reading this, you are really into trying new beer, and have not made a trade yet.. you need to. Much easier than I thought it would be.

So this is the second pretty things beer I have had, and I am noticing that they “think outside the bottle” when it comes to their flavors. The St Bodolph’s town I had from them was awesome, with a lot of different flavors going on. This one is more of the same. If I had to sum this beer up in one word it would be “funky.” A nice bit of citrus, a little bit of hops and pepper, and a good bit of tart/sour flavor. Very very complex. I’ll bet you could have 10 different beer people taste this, and each one would pick up a different batch of flavors. Also I see how people can say this has a “barnyard” type flavor… Not sure how to put into words what that tastes like but it totally makes sense. If you can get your hands on one of these give it a try, very different.

Funny Picture of the day: So this is how comic strip characters have babies.