Tonight, that would be the beer we've selected to review Bubbles. There were quite a few selections in the fridge tonight. Nothing was really calling my name over another, so I allowed my wife to step in and make the choice for me this evening. She narrowed it down to two cans. One of them I'm saving for an installment of Winter Warmer Wednesday (oooh, the first one is tomorrow!). I guess the other wins by default!
I told you it was happening, and tonight is the night. My first time dipping into the most recent Tavour order. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, you missed it last year. Go check that stuff out and come back when you're ready. If you're up to speed, we move onward!
Crooked Stave, located in Denver, Colorado, uses their "house mixed-culture" Brettanomyces yeast strain to make this citrus saison.
Feel free to skip this part if you need to or just don't care. A quick education on Brett yeast if you need it. A "wild yeast," Brett tends to grow on fruit skins. Back in the day, a brewery was likely near a farm or other area where produce was grown. That means lots of Brett yeast. Before brewers used extensive methods for sanitizing and cleaning brewing equipment, it was very common for a beer to at the very least to be partially fermented (or contaminated) with some of the funky stuff. If you've had it before, you know it. There is just an overall funkiness that is unmistakable in both the aroma and the flavor of the beer that is intentionally (or sometimes unintentionally contaminated) fermented with it. Usually a fruity, spicy acidity is what the strain is known for. The Brett does produce some acetic acid, which makes sense, given the information above. I'm no scholar, so that should make sense to all of you reading this tonight!
Getting back to the beer. From the can, this spicy saison poured a hazy golden color with a very rich and creamy head at the top. As for the aroma, it was all Brett yeast with some spiciness from the coriander, and some light citrus notes.
At first, the beer was likely too cold, as serving temperature listed on the website is recommended in the 46-54 degree range. I wish that was something listed on the can I have. The cooler temperature I started drinking this at made things very overly bubbly with respect to the carbonation level of this beer, and that was the predominant experience I had at first. Not too many of the flavors really came through except for the funk.
As things warmed up slightly, the flavors that were intended to come through, did so much easier. The saison-style that is advertised without a doubt comes through with some spicy notes, again, from the coriander. Lemongrass also lingers on the palate with a dry, yet pleasant finish. The saison/Brett combination seem to compliment each other fairly well here.
In all honesty, I have another can of this that I'll get to later on this month, but this wasn't really my thing. I sort of enjoyed the saison part of the beer, but Brett just isn't my kind of thing. I know people who go crazy over this type of yeast strain in a beer, but I'm not one of those guys. I'll make sure to try it warmer next time and maybe I'll change my tune.
It's not super-likely you'll get anywhere to try this anyway, but hopefully there was some knowledge gained at some level tonight.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the first installment of Winter Warmer Wednesday! Cheers!
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