Mystic Brewery Sauvignon Blanc Barrel Fermented Saison [Review]
A little while ago, we were over at Mystic Brewery, one of Massachusetts’ newest breweries, in Chelsea, MA. Their whole style is to be a Belgian-style farmhouse brewery headed up by a man who plans to use 21st century technology to bring us back to these roots, MIT Ph.D. Bryan Greenhagen. We’ll have a full profile on the brewery and an interview with Bryan soon, but he shared with us a beer that I couldn’t wait to tell all you craft beer drinkers about.
At the brewery we noticed a whole mess of barrels that had blow-off tubes coming out of each, all bubbling away...almost as if they were fermenting beer in those barrels, not just aging it. Well it turns out that they were, in fact, fermenting beer in there and the first batch was already bottled and ready to drink! (Editor’s Note: Barrel aged beer is normally fermented in large stainless steel vessels and then, once fermentation is complete, transferred to barrels where it ages to gain some of the barrel flavor. Barrel fermentation is different because, as the beer ferments, it warms up and cools down, causing the barrels to expand and contract which gives the beer a different, fuller barrel flavor.) Bryan had a bottle of their barrel fermented Saison chilled that we popped open and it was incredible! Here’s the story of that brew...
This version of Mystic Brewery’s Saison pours a murky copper color with a constant streaming of champagne-like bubbles from the bottom to the top. With even a gentle pour, you get a huge, pillowy cloud-colored head that settles to a dense, creamy, thick foam.
The first thing you smell when you open this brew is the influence of the sauvignon blanc barrels. As soon as you hear that loud “pop!” of the cork, you get a whiff of winey, sharp fruitiness. The sauvignon blanc barrel characteristics and those of the beer have melded together such that you can’t tell where the wine stops and the aroma of the beer begins. All in all, it smells great and is an awesome example of innovation happening in the craft beer world with barrel aging!
While it smells extremely wine-like, there is no question when you taste this that’s it’s a beer, and a very rustic Belgian-style Saison at that! The yeast characteristics from Mystic’s Saison yeast are front and center and you definitely get the malt that you would never be able to find in a wine (because it isn’t there). That said, the barrel fermentation and influence from the wine serve to smooth out some of the sharper edges that Mystic’s Saison has had in the past couple batches and give the brew an almost creamy mouthfeel. That creaminess would possibly be a little much, but that stream of bubbles I mentioned before serves to make it so effervescent that the creaminess is actually quite nice as it serves to lighten everything up.
I’ve seen quite a few wine barrel aged beers and usually the two flavors are competing...or even clashing. Here, though, the two work together to be more than either are apart. First of all, this is an amazing brew and I’m excited for what else Mystic has coming down the pipeline...Secondly, and more importantly perhaps, this barrel fermentation concept seems to have produced an incredibly complex yet approachable and drinkable beer and I can’t wait to see what else they do with it in the future!
I picked this bottle up at Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont.
What Has Been Your Favorite Seasonal Craft Beer Styles This Autumn? [Poll]
Autumn is a great season for craft beer. You have warm days, cold days and everything in between which means you can grab that imperial stout you've been waiting all summer to drink or you can finish off your stock piles of summer brew. With that said, though, certain styles are much more autumnal than others. Many people wait all year for this season and the flavors that come with it: Pumpkin, fresh hop and the malty goodness of Oktoberfest biers.
So, what we want to know is, what style of Fall-specific beer have you liked this season? You can get an IPA any day...these are the beers your can really only get at this time of the year. Vote below then tell us how you voted and why on Twitter, on Facebook or in the comments below the poll. Cheers!
Add a commentDrink Craft Beer Goes to Prague [Part 1]
As part of my recent trip to Oktoberfest I also made a stop in Prague for four days. The beer culture in Prague is fascinating. Beer is ingrained into the culture in ways that I hadn’t seen before, however the beer that’s ingrained is Pilsner Urquel. People clearly have a lot of pride in this beer and yes, it does in fact taste better in Prague than it does stateside.
Before I left for my trip to Prague I asked Chris Lohring from Notch Brewing where I needed to go on my trip. His first response was U Zlateho Tyrga (The Golden Tiger). On my cab ride from the airport to the hotel I began discussing beer with out driver. I told him of my love of good beer and this seemed to draw an odd response from him. Apparently he was in New York and was told to try Budweiser as a good American beer. Nooooooooooooooo! my brain screamed. I quickly assured him this was not the best America had to offer. He seemed skeptical but I pressed on and mentioned we were planning on going to U Zlateho Tyrgra. This instantly grabbed his attention and he mentioned two things to us. First off this was a fantastic bar, and secondly they don't really care for Americans. This is a local bar and they don't really care for anyone else...challenge accepted.
The bar is barely marked on the outside, there's no sign but there is a gold tiger above the door. As we walked in we saw rough wood tables, a man pouring more beers than I thought possible, and no Americans. We had no idea what to do. There was no apparent system for seating, so we watched for a moment. People just seemed to push their way through and seat themselves. Eventually we moved towards a table, and asked if it was OK to sit, the waiter nodded begrudgingly. It was clear to us that we were viewed as Americans and they didn't really want us there. We were dedicated to our cause and were not ready to admit defeat yet. You don't order beer at this bar, you can only not order beer. What do I mean by that? Well as soon as you sit down you get a round of Pilsner Urquel. Unless you put a coaster over your beer you keep getting more beer, it's a pretty fantastic system. As we were figuring out this system we noticed another American trying to figure things out as well, we did the only sensible thing we could do and invited him to join us. Little did he know what he was in for.
We kept getting beers, round after round and then realized we needed food. We asked for food menus a few times and were ignored, but we hung in there. After a few more rounds we seemed to have gained some respect and we able to order some food. We got some "beer cheese" (some magical combination of funky cheese, butter, onions, mustard and paprika), some thinly sliced beef with horseradish and mustard and some spicy sausage with peppers and pickled onions. Then something great happened, a local gestured to us asking if he could sit at our table. This place was packed and clearly hard to get a seat, we openly welcome him to our table. This seemed to gain us some more street cred. Our new table-mate spoke little to no English, but we were able to work things out, he was an incredibly kind man in his 50s named Milos. He seemed to appreciate our beer consumption and we got a solid thumbs up from him on our choice of food.
As we spent more time in the bar we bonded over great food and beer with Milos, despite our language barrier. Milos showed us a video on his cell phone of him roasting a whole pig on a spit. As we sat and drank Milos ordered some food. What arrived at the table moments later was some sort of thin pork fried in batter. We asked him was and instead of trying to explain he cut bites of it for each of us to try. I’ve never felt so welcomed into a culture than that moment in time. We immediately ordered him a beer as thanks. Oh and that other American we invited to our table, well as we got talking it turned out he follows us on twitter. He's from Chicago, was on a business trip to Warsaw Poland, and took a quick trip to Prague and we happened to connect. Crazy.
We walked into U Zlateho Tyrga clear outsiders, but over the course many many beers and some shared food we were accepted into what was clearly a local establishment. We were sure to tip well as we left, our waiter gave me a appreciative tap on the shoulder as a thanks and we left knowing we had just had a once in a lifetime experience.
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Are Rare Beers Worth the Hassle? [Poll]
As craft beer has become more popular rare beers have surged in popularity with a cloud of hype around each new release. Beers like Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout rarely even hit the shelves, anymore. Most of this beer is spoken for by loyal customers of various stores and the dedicated few who call around before it even arrives. Other beers, like Three Floyds Dark Lord or Portsmouth Brewery Kate the Great, have a cult following with drinkers making the pilgrimage to the brewery each year wait in line for hours to get a couple bottles.
Recently, while picking up some beer at my local store, I saw seven guys standing in line. Turns out they'd been there for an hour and were waiting 3 more to get a chance to pick up Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout.
Our question today is are these rare beers worth the wait/effort to get them? Vote below then tell us how you voted and why on Twitter, on Facebook or in the comments below the poll. Cheers!
What Is Your Favorite Cold Weather Craft Beer? [Poll]
To our dismay we awoke this morning (Friday) to find a light dusting of snow covering the ground. While it's a little early for snow in our opinion a chill in the air always puts us in the mood for some bigger, maltier, heavier beers.
Imperial stouts and barleywines that we may not have even thought of picking up a month ago suddenly seem just a bit more tempting. Between the two of us, we each have our preferred cold weather libation, which got us thinking...What do you prefer when the weather turns cold? We want to know, so vote below then tell us what you voted for and why on Twitter, on Facebook or in the comments below the poll. Cheers!
