Sean Suggests for June 2015 – Unity 2015

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First and foremost, get your hands on a bottle of Unity 2015. The official tart saison of #LABW7. Then look for the rest to supplement your beer buying adventures.
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~LIGHT
Left Hand/ Polestar Pilsner 5.5% ABV
Once you have tasted a true Pilsner, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have  seen the light, and there you will always long to return. Let Polestar guide you out of the wilderness, just as the North Star has guided explorers to their destinations and back home again. Light, crisp and elegant, pilsner is the true test of brewing prowess. Less is more.

~MEDIUM
Port Brewing/ Summer Pale 6.0% ABV
“Our massively hoppy West Coast-style pale ale, we use Chinook, Cascade, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops to really put our mark on the beer. An initial nose of dankness with some subtle pine, Summer Pale Ale starts with a bite from the hops and finishes with a refreshing tangerine bitterness. Our Summer Pale Ale is the perfect accompaniment to any summer night! ”

~DARK
Saint Archer/ Scottish Export 7.0% ABV
“Cleanly malty with a drying finish, perhaps a few esters, and on occasion a faint bit of peaty earthiness (smoke). Most beers finish fairly dry considering their relatively sweet palate, and as such have a different balance than strong Scotch ales.”

# 4

Boulevard-Ommegang-Collaboration-No-4-Saison

Ommegang brewmaster Phil Leinhart is the latest to join Steven Pauwels the brewmaster at Boulevard for a collaborative brew. And befitting the Belgian background of these two Belgian owned breweries they have gone the Saison route.  They brewed up a batch of wort wand split it into two fermentors. One had Boulevard’s primary Belgian yeast strain pitched into it, and the other got Ommegang’s house yeast strain. Then the two now different beers were blended into one, Collaboration No. 4. Oh and some sweet orange peel, lemon peel, coriander and grains of paradise were added in which is very wit-ish.  Maybe it’s a new hybrid? SaiWit. Witson?

Review – The Ogden from Goose Island

There is a very herbal nose on this new to L.A. bottled offering from Goose Island of Chicago. Getting notes of licorice and vanilla intermingling in this bright orange drink that bears the name Ogden in honor of hizzoner William Ogden, the first mayor in Chicago. (Are they called that in Chicago, or is that just a New York thing?)

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I am also getting some rye and citrus background flavors here as well as I take in all the details of the well-designed and classy label.  There is almost a creamsicle essence as well. This saison does show it’s 9% ABV on its sleeve but there is such a nice mix of flavors here that it doesn’t cause a detriment to drinking it. The licorice and orange + tropical particularly really work well together.

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Review – Saison from Hilliard’s

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One of the beers that I have been meaning to try was one of the rare saisons in a can.  This one comes from the land of the 12th Man and Super Bowl champion Seahawks and the brewery is Hilliard’s.

This saison pours a really strange light orange murky color. Tangerine juice creamsicle looking. This is after a really foamy pour. It has a citrus meets Hefe aroma. Some typical Belgian notes in their as well.  Very juice tasting to me. Really dry finish. More in common with cider or champagne to me. Big amount of a dark brown sediment at the bottom of the glass. A little touch of spicy mineral notes at the back.  Not at all what I expected and it makes me want to try it on draft to compare.

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Love the can design.  Very cool looking.

Review – Burning Rosids from Stone

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I was a bit hesitant to buy this beer.  Lately, Stone beers have been all Seahawk defense aggression which is not where my palate is right now.  Secondly, the story behind the beer is sad and I didn’t want them to make a bad beer in the memory of one of their brewers.

Thankfully, this was a really well balanced and restrained beer.  I enjoyed it from the first sip to the last.  The underlying saison was still there in it’s Belgian glory and was nicely accented by the cherry wood smoke on one side and the darker malts on the other.  The kicker was the higher ABV which also really worked here

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I would love to see more saisons and fizzy yellow beers from these guys ’cause they can knock it out of the park when not obsessed with over hopping and the hottest peppers on earth.

 

Review – Anchor Zymaster # 4 Fort Ross Farmhouse Ale

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Always fun to see that you have caught up to a series.  Granted only four in the Anchor Brewing Zymaster Series, but I have had all of them!  Pours a reddish orange. Nice 1/2 finger white head of foam. A crazy quilt of funk, hops and some metallic notes in the first sip.  Maybe that is the Yerba Santa?  Very earthy to me.  A little dry at the end as well.  A search finds some tea notes and vanilla in the aroma.  As it warms some rose and citrus notes start to come forth. But to me closer to a dubbel than a saison.

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No book to report on currently but I am watching the Netflix series Orange is the New Black and listening to Ratchet from Bloc Party too much.