There’s a lot of collaboration going on in brewing and on the whole it makes for some interesting new ideas and lots of tasty beer.
But one collaboration that I was keen to try was the beer brewed by Home Brewing Hero BrewChap and my old mates at Revolutions Brewing.
The initial brewing was done in BrewChap’s secret lair somewhere in Yorkshire, and I believe that a commercial version of the beer will be brewed back at the Revolutions Ranch.
For now, here’s a three way Saison that made me smile from ear to ear.
Damn Fine Saison (4.5%)
A Saison using some darker malts and maybe even a touch of rye, this is very easy drinking.
Pouring a conker red, the aroma is toffee and lightly spicy bread dough, and taking a swig you are immediately met by a mouthful of cinder toffee, some honey and bran biscuits, and then a meaty pumpernickel works its way into the mix while the yeast keeps the beer feeling round and earthy with woody spices and the hops give you a sharp slap of fresh herbal leaves, a hint of aniseed and lots of pithy hedgerow foliage.
Good stuff.
Damn Fine Sour Cherry Saison (4.5%)
Take an already well made Saison and add sour cherries, if you do it just right, this is what you get.
This beer has all the delightful stuff going on that I’ve spelled out in the Saison, the rich malts and the earthy yeast underbelly, the woodiness and the sharp leafy hops.
But there’s a lovely Black Forest aroma and a hit of tangy meaty fruit from the cherries, making the beer feel bigger and fuller and very satisfying indeed, especially when you feel the pinch of sourness right in the finish.
Super.
Damn Fine Cherry Saison (4.5%)
And as for the non sour Cherry Saison, take everything from above but add a really big deep fleshy fruit body.
The cherry is enormous, fun, chewy, sexy, warm and deep, and it really pulls out extra body from the malts, making the beer feel thick and round and very satisfying indeed.
It makes the toffee of the malts feel sticky and it rounds out the edges of the hops, taking out the sharpness and making the finish mouth filling and rich.
Aceness.
Source: BrewChap
