Beer of the Weekend #312: Saison-Brett

I have been a good boy this week. I have not consumed a single drop of beer or alcohol since Saturday night, which was one of my New Year’s resolutions (no mid-week drinking). (I am not counting the delicious Guinness-infused cupcakes Bobblehead gave me.) Like I said last week, though I am far from an alcoholic I felt my beer drinking was getting out of control. So what better way to celebrate my reinstituted mid-week teetotalism than by drinking one of the beers I was given for the holidays? (There is no better way.)

The beer tonight is courtesy of Bobblehead and his Missus: Saison-Brett, brewed by the Boulevard Brewing Company of Kansas City, Missouri.


I am not a big fan of saison — the farmhouse funkiness is not my favorite — but I am very eager to try Saison-Brett. I looked up its Beer Advocate profile and was astonished by the ratings. Not only does it have a “BA Score” of 95 (the average score given by all BA user reviews), but “The Bros” score is 100. (Both scores would easily be A+’s in the old rating system.) I have never seen that. The Bros gave 100? Wow. Those guys know beer.

Serving type: 750 ml bottle. The “BEST BY DATE” on the back of the bottle is “03-2013.”

Appearance: Poured into a tulip. It produced a ton of dense, white head (WARNING: pour cautiously), which thinned and dissipated slowly. The color is cloudy straw yellow.

Smell: Lots of farmhouse mustiness, à la “Brett” (?), though it smells like there is a hair salon nearby. Lemon zest, tons of clove and grassy hop spice, and very sweet fruits (I am thinking tangerine, grapefruit, and mango). Everything blends together to create one funky aroma.

Taste: It tastes like a saison-IPA hybrid, and it is thankfully hoppy enough to lean more toward its IPA half. It is sweet, but it also has a balancing bitterness. The fruit flavors from the smell (tangerine, grapefruit, and, to a lesser degree, mango) come first, then it is mixed with the farmhouse yeast funkiness, and finally the grassy hops finish the sip with a does of bitterness. There is not a hint of alcohol despite the higher ABV.

Drinkability: I would drink a lot more saison if saison tasted like this. This is excellent.

Fun facts about Saison-Brett:

-Style: Both Boulevard and BA classify it as “Saison/Farmhouse Ale.”

-Price: $11.99/bottle at the Hy-Vee on First Avenue in Iowa City. (Bobblehead accidentally left the receipt in the bag. At the same time he purchased “BBQ RIB BEER CHIPS,” some kind of Bloody Mary thing, milk, a box of Marlboro Gold 100 (tisk tisk), a box of Swisher Sweets, and a can of Whipsy Loco Cocoa.)

-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.

-Alcohol content: 8.5 percent ABV.

-Food pairings: BA recommends curried and Thai cuisine, earthy cheeses (Camembert, Fontina), nutty cheeses (Asiago, Colby, Parmesan), pungent cheeses (Gorgonzola, Limburger), salad, poultry, fish, and shellfish.

-Nerdiness from the back label:

A traditional Belgian-style saison was the starting point for this limited edition ale, but then the fun began: It was dry hopped, followed by bottle conditioning with various yeasts, including Brettanomyces, a wild strain that imparts a distinctive earthy quality. Though this farmhouse ale received three months of bottle age prior to release, further cellaring will continue to enhance the “Brett” character, if that’s what you’re after…

-Here is something that is cool, which is also mentioned on the back label:

Our Special Limited Release ales are produced in batches so small that we individually number each bottle. When they’re gone, they’re gone.

The number of my bottle is “13403” — which, to me, makes it seem like it was part of a pretty big batch. If my math is correct, and the bottles were numbered starting from 1, Boulevard brewed at least 10,052,250 ml of Saison-Brett. That is 26,555.235 gallons. Small batch? You be the judge.

-I would also like to say the cork was a pain to pull out. Don’t get me wrong: I appreciate the seal and freshness it provided. But goddamn!


The Quiet Man’s grade: A.

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