As a general rule, I like beers of medium weight, typically IPAs but I do enjoy the occasional Guinness or other light stout. Unfortunately these beers are best enjoyed in the winter. Their weight can sometimes be a bit much for the summer, and so I began my quest for a light summer beer!
My first stop was with Lambics. I love lambics. But there are a couple problems with them:
1. Not many places make lambics
2. When you can find them they’re expensive
3. I really can’t drink too much lambic, they are too sweet
Now I don’t like lagers and I don’t like pilsners (Michael has been getting into pilsners lately and I just can’t get myself to like them). So it was tricky finding something light and delicious. Then I discovered the Saison. I first had one last year at Iron Hill‘s Magic Hat Summer Dinner, and enjoyed the citrusy taste of it, but never really got into them then.
Saisons are an ale that are lighter than the general ales that I enjoy. Wikipedia offers the following description of their taste:
Saisons have a spicy, herbal, earthy hoppy bite from the generous amounts of traditional noble hop varieties, including kent goldings, styrian goldings and hallertau. The yeast flavors add an unmistakable Belgian touch to these ales, and add a complex smoothness. Although saisons are almost always dry, the can also be winey and tart
It’s like a belgian ale, but toned down a notch in how heavy it is and spiced up a bit. These are fantastic! Over the past few weeks I’ve been trying different saisons. The three memorable ones I’ve tried thus far have all been from American breweries (perhaps unfortunate since it’s a Belgian beer with Belgian malts and hops!), and have all really been good. In order of delciousness they are:
Rogue FestivAle – This is the best Saison I’ve ever had. Perfect Saisonness on all accounts.
Sly Fox Saison VOS – Next best, and easy to get my hands on! I enjoyed a bottle of this this weekend.
Victory V Saison – I love Victory, so it was no surprise that this was a good Saison, but it didn’t knock my socks off like the Rogue and Sly Fox did.
Mmmm Saisons. I found my summer beer!