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A saison brewed with rye as well as Brett? Well, Bruery stuff has been excellent so far but let's see how this goes. 750 into a St. Bernie chalice...

This one has a little bit of irrational exuberance at the outset. There's 2 fingers of head that is buttery-egghell in color with a great chunky seam. Lots of effervescent carbonation travels slowly through the viscous honey-colored body. Carbonation and head continue to rise and crest in the chalice...it's like dough rising in a way. Not a gusher but definitely happy to see me. The head ends up as being almost egg white in consistency. Big lacing as well. Not sure if this indicates slight slight slight infection issues or not, but aside from that it looks pretty solid.

Wow - there's a very nice Brett sourness and Saison yeast spice and electricity with a slightly floral hop experience. It is rather creamy for the style; later on a more earthy hop quality abounds - could they be on the way out?

At first the hops are front and center - quite floral, almost soapy. Then a sweetness with rye maltiness and a slight alcohol burn take over. The Brett funk and yeast are muted by the creaminess and carbonation. Definitely malty for a saison.

Maybe it is maltier and a little heavy for a saison but it's quite luxurious and velvety. With warmth a grassy earthiness on the hop side shows up along with viscous alcohol. Still, very solid.

This is complex, well-constructed and thoroughly enjoyable. Only things we can improve on are the crispness, a bit more Brett sourness and the electricity of a more traditional saison. Still a finely-tuned, well-oiled machine and yet another successful offering from Patrick. Not bad for a lawyer!

Served In: Pint Glass

Thanks to ph2001 for this one!

Pours a hazy, gleaming, golden apricot color. Three fingers of fluffy, cloud-like and slightly left of bone-white colored head rises to it's fullest, remains for a minute, and begins a rather quick decent... that results in a picture perfect cap. Held to the light, one can see streamers of carbonation slowly reaching for the surface. A quick swirl brings a good reaction - with gorgeous cascading action slowly morphing into spidery strands of lacing.

The aroma is everything I was hoping for. First wave brings a slight sweetness - a natural fruit-like sugar, like over ripened/bruised fruits. Speaking of fruits - sweet golden apple, bruised dripping pineapple and lemon zest step forward. Quickly following are notes of oven warm biscuit and rye... oh yes, sweet rye. Towards the middle and throughout is that mandatory musky haymow dustiness, complete with a sweaty sock/leather like funk.
Yes please.

Whoa. First sip is quite spicy - and I am completely loving it. Sweet candy sugar/malts and rye... and a maple syrup like taste as well, interesting. More spices stand out - coriander, black pepper... damn, more rye (love it!). Light to moderate citrus like bitterness towards the middle of the palate - orange rind - and a degree of pine resin adding it's abrasiveness, lending to the mouthfeel (again, I attribute this mostly to the rye). Golden apple with a touch of pear for fruit. As for the funk - it is much more subdued here, but I would believe that given a year or more, that it may become more pronounced - which would be a good thing. Everything blends and carries through the extended finish.

Medium in body. Slightly heavy yet brisk/crisp mouthfeel. Very dry near and within the finish. The addition of the rye lends a lot to the overall mouthfeel - just as I hoped it would - and I find this element to be fantastic. Carbonation is just lightly on the soft side. For a Saison - this has a good amount of boozy warmth... aaaah yes, 8.5 - that could be why.

I was hoping the rye would pop in this Saison... and did it ever! In all aspects - from the moment I poured it all the way through the mouthfeel - the rye is the centerpiece, and a true winner.
Highly enjoyable, refreshing, well balanced... this one has it all. A bit more of a sipper due to the slightly boozy nature, but I find it to be disappearing very quickly, all the same. Curious to see what a year or so does for the funk... it has enough residual sugars to allow for some interesting aging to happen...
Thanks again Karen!
A Must Try

Served In: Other

750ml

This Bruery saison comes courtesy of Alen out in Cali, thanks! Saison Rue has a sunset orange body that turns deep golden when backlit with enough haziness to keep me from seeing through the liquid. Carbonation rushes to the surface from all over the glass to keep the impressive head in place. I ended up with two fingers of head on the pour and it shows no sign of receding at all, the cap looking like stiff meringue. This is an incredibly impressive head, one of the best I've seen in a long while. The lacing is actually beautiful; it hangs on the glass like morning fog.

The nose is straight up Lemonhead off the bat. Once I get past the vibrant lemon I pull out sugar cookie sweetness as the malt backbone. The rye adds a spicy touch that seems to work very well in this saison. Dusty yeast and a bit of wildflower floral quality are just compliments to the overall aroma. This beer has a lot of depth, there's not a great deal of different aromas but each singular one has several nuances. I could smell this beer all day long.

Wow! The flavor takes a side step to the aroma but is equally impressive. The brett used in this beer has put off an incredibly vivid wildflower character while the rye adds some needed spiciness and they both play off each other beautifully. It tastes like coriander is added but I don't see anywhere on the bottle that notes this. The lemon comes through on the finish in a less intense manner than in the nose. Mushy green apple makes a short appearance but there's not much to be found. The brett adds a dusty character to the entire flavor that I'm hugely fond of and there's a grassy hop bite on the swallow.

The body stands up to the lofty standards set by the rest of this saison. The carbonation is lively but soft and makes the 8.5% body leans to the lighter side of moderate. It's nearly hits airy on the swallow and has a tongue sapping dryness with enough bitterness to feel after each drying sip. There's not a whisper of alcohol.

The drinkability is up there on this unique saison. There are plenty of bold flavors but the airy carbonation and lighter body when combined with the thirst quenching qualities make this a dream to put away.

Saison Rue may have just taken the top spot as my favorite American brewed saison, which is a feat in and of itself. I'm blown away by how good this beer is and, more importantly, how the rye works with the brett. I would be sitting on cases of this beer if it were available locally, it's that good. Thanks for the bottle Alen, I'll be searching out more soon without a doubt!

Reviewed: 5/18/09

Served In: Tulip

A - Ok, don't attempt a normal pour as you will be left with a big glass of foam. Pouring down the side will make it only a half glass of foam. Speaking of the foam, it pours a gigantic light tan head of loose foam that has amazing staying power. I'm going to have a beer foam mustache here. Body is light yellow and crystal clear.

S - Man does this one smell good. You've got the yeasty, slightly funky saison side of things. Then you have the funky, tart, fruity, brett side of things.

T - Starts off as a traditional Saison. Belgian yeast and some light barnyard funk come in to play on your tongue. Some fruitiness of cherries and peaches enter. Then comes in the brett. Nice light tartness with some lime and peach. Light spiciness of pepper and maybe coriander. All these flavors, yet they seem to meld together seemlessly.

M - Medium bodied with soft carbonation.

Overall - I really like this beer. In my upper eschelon of the style for me for being different if nothing else. I really like the light colored belgian styles with a bit of tartness and this is not exception. Recommended.

Served In: Tulip