Blog Tracker
30-04-2015, 09:28
Visit the Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog site (http://boakandbailey.com/2015/04/saisons-pt-4-big-names/)
http://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/brewdog_burning_sky_saisons_672.jpgFor this week’s saison-tasting session, we decided to tackle*two beers from breweries with heavy*reputations: BrewDog and Burning Sky. We were sent both as samples (http://boakandbailey.com/samples-pr/disclosure-stuff-we-got-free/) by the breweries but…
BrewDog Electric India — 5.2% ABV, 330ml, £1.80 at their online store (https://www.brewdog.com/item/42/BrewDog/Electric-India.html) (when it’s in stock).
Burning Sky*Saison*à la Provision — 6.7%, 330ml, at, e.g., Beer Gonzo (http://www.beergonzo.co.uk/buy/beer/burning-sky-saison-%C3%A0-la-provision-p1072)*for £3.95.*(Also available in 750ml corked bottles.)
We had vague recollections of trying BrewDog’s saison last year, on keg at their Camden bar, and finding it ‘quite good’.*The flame-coloured label and*customarily*hyperbolic copy suggest that it ought to have been more memorable:
An unholy union between a Belgian Saison and an India Pale Ale… A lightning bolt of awesome that resuscitates your tastebuds…*Electric India is a hoppy saison brewed with lashings of heather honey, crushed black pepper corns and enthusiastically hopped with mountains of Amarillo and Nelson Sauvin.
Unholy! Lightning bolts! Lashings! Mountains! Boy howdy!
It poured with a glacial,*almost spoonable head of foam, just a touch hazy, and smelled remarkably like Westmalle Tripel, so top marks for a convincingly Belgian first impression.
http://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bd_electric_200.jpg (http://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bd_electric_200.jpg)On tasting, there was an immediate reminder of last week’s guest star (http://boakandbailey.com/2015/04/saison-season-pt-3-roobarb/): rhubarb. A result of the power of suggestion, perhaps, or maybe the other way round — the yeast recalls rhubarb which is what gives brewers the idea to add it to saison? It actually contains black pepper but, again, we suspect the yeast is at least equally responsible for a tingling, spicy note. As it warmed up, more bitterness emerged, as did some of the promised tropical fruit — something like that dried pineapple/papaya/coconut mix people sprinkle on their breakfast bran.
This is not a radical or crazy beer, despite the label’s claims — it tastes clean and classical with just enough quirkiness to keep things interesting, and the relatively low ABV (Saison Dupon is 6.5%) puts it on the sessionable/refreshing end of the scale. It’s a definite contender for our list of recommended UK saisons, especially considering the price,*and makes it through to the final taste-off.
* * *
The challenge with Burning Sky Saison*à la Provision is to taste*the beer*itself rather than the hype, but it’s difficult: when we announced this project, lots of people suggested we*had to try it,*and brewer Mark Tranter, formerly of Dark Star, is one of a handful of celebrity*names in British beer, and the winner of last year’s British Guild of Beer Writers brewing award. On pouring, before we even had chance to look at it, we were assailed by a ripe Brettanomyces aroma — musty, spicy, faintly cheesy.*Despite our best efforts, it was impossible to pour clear, or even hazy: let’s call the result ‘light cloud cover’.
http://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/burning_sky_200.jpg (http://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/burning_sky_200.jpg)The first taste*reminded us of our earliest efforts to understand saison:*where exactly does gueuze*begin and saison end (http://boakandbailey.com/2011/09/saison-cracked/)? This beer is distinctly sour, though not as fiercely challenging as some. (It might make a good introduction to sour beer for the nervous.) If it was described as gueuze on the label, we certainly wouldn’t argue. Really,*it’s three-in-one all-purpose-Belgian — the funk of Orval, the tartness of Cantillon, and an*homage to the farmhouse tradition.*Or, to put that another way, if Irn Bru is made in Scotland from girders, this tastes as if it’s made in Belgium from barn beams.
On balance, we found just a touch too rustic and raw for our tastes, and there was a distracting brown sugar, toffee note that jarred throughout. After some debate (we bickered, readers, and one of us is ‘in no hurry to drink it again soon’) we decided to put it through to the final because it’s*a grown-up, fascinating, complex beer that we suspect will show new facets on a different day.
Saisons Pt 4: Big Names (http://boakandbailey.com/2015/04/saisons-pt-4-big-names/) from Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog - Over-thinking beer, pubs and the meaning of craft since 2007 (http://boakandbailey.com)
More... (http://boakandbailey.com/2015/04/saisons-pt-4-big-names/)
http://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/brewdog_burning_sky_saisons_672.jpgFor this week’s saison-tasting session, we decided to tackle*two beers from breweries with heavy*reputations: BrewDog and Burning Sky. We were sent both as samples (http://boakandbailey.com/samples-pr/disclosure-stuff-we-got-free/) by the breweries but…
BrewDog Electric India — 5.2% ABV, 330ml, £1.80 at their online store (https://www.brewdog.com/item/42/BrewDog/Electric-India.html) (when it’s in stock).
Burning Sky*Saison*à la Provision — 6.7%, 330ml, at, e.g., Beer Gonzo (http://www.beergonzo.co.uk/buy/beer/burning-sky-saison-%C3%A0-la-provision-p1072)*for £3.95.*(Also available in 750ml corked bottles.)
We had vague recollections of trying BrewDog’s saison last year, on keg at their Camden bar, and finding it ‘quite good’.*The flame-coloured label and*customarily*hyperbolic copy suggest that it ought to have been more memorable:
An unholy union between a Belgian Saison and an India Pale Ale… A lightning bolt of awesome that resuscitates your tastebuds…*Electric India is a hoppy saison brewed with lashings of heather honey, crushed black pepper corns and enthusiastically hopped with mountains of Amarillo and Nelson Sauvin.
Unholy! Lightning bolts! Lashings! Mountains! Boy howdy!
It poured with a glacial,*almost spoonable head of foam, just a touch hazy, and smelled remarkably like Westmalle Tripel, so top marks for a convincingly Belgian first impression.
http://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bd_electric_200.jpg (http://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bd_electric_200.jpg)On tasting, there was an immediate reminder of last week’s guest star (http://boakandbailey.com/2015/04/saison-season-pt-3-roobarb/): rhubarb. A result of the power of suggestion, perhaps, or maybe the other way round — the yeast recalls rhubarb which is what gives brewers the idea to add it to saison? It actually contains black pepper but, again, we suspect the yeast is at least equally responsible for a tingling, spicy note. As it warmed up, more bitterness emerged, as did some of the promised tropical fruit — something like that dried pineapple/papaya/coconut mix people sprinkle on their breakfast bran.
This is not a radical or crazy beer, despite the label’s claims — it tastes clean and classical with just enough quirkiness to keep things interesting, and the relatively low ABV (Saison Dupon is 6.5%) puts it on the sessionable/refreshing end of the scale. It’s a definite contender for our list of recommended UK saisons, especially considering the price,*and makes it through to the final taste-off.
* * *
The challenge with Burning Sky Saison*à la Provision is to taste*the beer*itself rather than the hype, but it’s difficult: when we announced this project, lots of people suggested we*had to try it,*and brewer Mark Tranter, formerly of Dark Star, is one of a handful of celebrity*names in British beer, and the winner of last year’s British Guild of Beer Writers brewing award. On pouring, before we even had chance to look at it, we were assailed by a ripe Brettanomyces aroma — musty, spicy, faintly cheesy.*Despite our best efforts, it was impossible to pour clear, or even hazy: let’s call the result ‘light cloud cover’.
http://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/burning_sky_200.jpg (http://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/burning_sky_200.jpg)The first taste*reminded us of our earliest efforts to understand saison:*where exactly does gueuze*begin and saison end (http://boakandbailey.com/2011/09/saison-cracked/)? This beer is distinctly sour, though not as fiercely challenging as some. (It might make a good introduction to sour beer for the nervous.) If it was described as gueuze on the label, we certainly wouldn’t argue. Really,*it’s three-in-one all-purpose-Belgian — the funk of Orval, the tartness of Cantillon, and an*homage to the farmhouse tradition.*Or, to put that another way, if Irn Bru is made in Scotland from girders, this tastes as if it’s made in Belgium from barn beams.
On balance, we found just a touch too rustic and raw for our tastes, and there was a distracting brown sugar, toffee note that jarred throughout. After some debate (we bickered, readers, and one of us is ‘in no hurry to drink it again soon’) we decided to put it through to the final because it’s*a grown-up, fascinating, complex beer that we suspect will show new facets on a different day.
Saisons Pt 4: Big Names (http://boakandbailey.com/2015/04/saisons-pt-4-big-names/) from Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog - Over-thinking beer, pubs and the meaning of craft since 2007 (http://boakandbailey.com)
More... (http://boakandbailey.com/2015/04/saisons-pt-4-big-names/)