REVIEW: New Holland Four Witches

I've got a handful of big dark beers sitting in the fridge but the time just hasn't seemed right to break them out. This dark beer is a little bit more of what I'm in the mood for.The first and only black saison I ever had, Green Flash's Freindship Brew, I wasn't totally wild about. The spice was kind of all over the place and it didn't really do it for me. But that's just one beer. Today we've got Four Witches, another black saison from a brewery that I haven't looked at much. New Holland, Michigan's New Holland Brewing. Let's get to it. To the beer!

REVIEW: Grassroots/ Anchorage Arctic Saison

Taking a brief break from the fall seasonals today to check out a pretty interesting one today. There are times when a beer seems to just beckon to you from across the liquor store. That was the case with this striking blue-green bottle. I was at the Beer Trappe not too long ago enjoying a brew when I saw this one, a collaboration beer between two breweries that are new to me. Anchorage Alaska's eponymous Anchorage Brewing and Grassroots Brewing out of Greensboro Bend, Vermont. Grassroots a bit of a side project for Hill Farmstead Brewery. Hill Farmstead is widely lauded as one of the best breweries in the world. Hell, Shaun Hill was profiled in Vanity Fair. Vanity freaking Fair! Wild. But anyways, the beer, Arctic Saison is aged in oak tanks with Brettanomyces.  Sounds delightful, doesn't it! To the beer!

REVIEW: Stillwater Classique

A while back I had the outstanding As Follows from Stillwater Artisinal Ales. I said then that I would be on the hunt for more beers from Stillwater. Well, nine months later, I'm finally back to the Baltimore based gypsy brewer of all things Belgian and farmhouse. Today I'm taking a look at Classique, a 4.5% ABV Saison, in that beautifully designed can. To the beer!

Classique pours a hazy, effervescent pale gold underneath a billowy layer of resilient    bright white foam which hangs on quite a while and leaves great lacing. 

On the nose I get robust notes of lemon alongside grassy, earthy hop hints and a touch of a peppery clove spiciness and a bit of banana. 

Classique is light in body but plenty of carbonation lends a creaminess along with a prickly mouthfeel. The flavors here are all very subtle. Nothing really jumps out to the forefront or dominates the palate. Fruity notes of lemon and lime are contrasted by a peppery spiciness and and a grassy herbal hop character. A very crisp, very bitter snap comes in on the finish. 

This is kind of a weird saison. Very light, subtle, and a surprising bitterness. In fact, it almost drinks like a lager with the sessionable crispness. It's different but I really like it. 

HD

REVIEW: Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale

So I recently found myself in Indianapolis again visiting friends. And what do I do when in a new city? Make my way to the best liquor store in town and spend too much money on beers that I can't get at home. You may remember that the last time I was in Indy I came home with a bottle of Boulevard's Double-Wide. An excellent double IPA and my first ever beer from the venerable Kansas City brewer. This weekend I made sure to grab another of their brews and found myself drawn to the bottle you see above. Tank 7, an 8.5% ABV 38 IBU saison. To the beer!

REVIEW: Three Floyds Rabbid Rabbit

It's been a while since I've ventured into the beers of Three Floyds. I really dig their stuff, but it seems like it's a rare day when I spot many of their brews gracing the shelves of my local liquor store or bottle shop. So when I recently saw this bottle I snapped it up. A saison brewed with chamomile and rock candy. Sounds tasty! To the beer!

REVIEW: Prairie 'Merica

This beer was bought purely on the strength of it's label. I'm unfamiliar with Prairie Artisan Ales. I found this bad boy at The Beer Trappe down In Lexington, Kentucky. One of the best craft beer bars you will ever find. But seriously, a red, white and blue, multi-beard (?) Also on the sides of the bottle are American Gladiators, a fat guy with his ass stuck in a lawn chair, cat-headed professional wrestlers with heat vision, old dudes grilling steaks, french fries, meatloaf, catfish, cinder blocks, and plenty of ketchup and yellow mustard. A truly wonderful magical melange of all this land of opportunity has to offer! Add the insanity of the bottle to a saison brewed with only floor-malted pilsener malt, Nelson Sauvin hops, and Prarie's farmhouse yeast and I'm ready to pull the trigger. So one hop, one malt, one 'Merica, as the label says. I could not, in good conscience, leave this beer sitting on the shelf. To the beer!

REVIEW: 21st Amendment Sneak Attack

So I've been looking at a lot of big hearty stouts lately. It's sort of the time though. It's awfully cold and big malty beers like that are prefect for cold windy nights like that. I love a good stout, that much should be apparent. But at a certain point, one stout after another can get a bit tiring. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks that way because 21st Amendment has just released, in the dead of winter, Sneak Attack. A belgian style saison brewed with cardamom. Plenty of info about the creation of the beer, including the story behind the name and the can art, both of this are tremendous by the way, can be found here. Recommended reading. To the beer!

Dogfish Head/ Stone/ Victory Saison du BUFF

Today's beer is a collaboration between not two, but three great breweries. Dogfish Head, Stone, and Victory got together to hatch up a recipe, and quite the interesting recipe too. Saison du BUFF (Brewers United for Freedom of Flavor) is a belgian style saison with an interesting twist, it's brewed with rosemary, sage, thyme, and parsley. The recipe was first brewed at Stone then later brewed at the other two breweries, the one I have here today is, obviously, from Dogfish Head. To the beer!

REVIEW: New Holland Golden Cap

OK, back to your regularly scheduled programming here at QCBN. I know I'm a broken record at this point, but yes, it's been incredibly hot. We've had high temperatures here in Cincinnati that haven't been seen since the thirties. All of this is making the thought of drinking stouts and porters more and more unpalatable and steering me more toward summer seasonals. Today's beer is a summer seasonal from New Holland Brewing in New Holland, Michigan. The beer is a saison, sometimes known as a farmhouse ale, which is a light, crisp, dry belgian style ale. Perfectly suited for summertime drinking. Plus, flying monkey on the label! To the beer!

REVIEW: Avery Eighteen

Belgian style beers are kind of a bind spot for me in terms of being able to talk intelligently about them. Not that I don't enjoy them, I certainly do, but they're just very different than the ales and lagers that I'm used to. It's just a completely different set of flavors and aromas. Belgian yeast is a whole different animal. There's a set of flavors in most English and American style beers (pale ales, stouts, porters, IPAs) that I'm familiar with, that I can pick out. Belgian ales present a whole new set of flavors and with them, a new set of challenges. Today I'm reviewing Avery's Eighteen. A dry-hopped rye saison. A saison is a belgian style farmhouse ale. But dry-hopped and rye, those are things I'm familiar with, I can wrap my head around that. Maybe I'll be able to figure this beer out after all. To the beer!