We just got back from looking at a house we might buy and now we’re making pizza and settling in to watch the first night of the Olympics. Home buying is stressful and so I needed a beer when I got home. My sister brought this beer back for me from her vacation in Asheville, NC. It’s a collaboration beer from all the breweries in Asheville. It’s a limited release of only 999 bottles, so my sister felt this would be a good one for my 1000 beers list.

Location: Poured into a Sam Adams perfect pint glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 7% ABV, ~200 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It’s dark golden in color and slightly hazy with a ton of carbonation and a huge rocky head with incredible retention and lacing. The aroma is lemony citrus with some barnyard funkiness.

Taste & Feel: The body is medium and the mouthfeel is smooth and somewhat creamy from the big head on it. Up front the beer has a lemon-bready flavor with a bit of yeastiness. The lemon citrus flavors pick up in the middle and continued growing through the finish. The citrus flavors are accompanied by a good dose of bitterness in the finish, with some spices and barnyard funkiness in the background.

Food Pairing: This beer went great with the pepperoni pizza I was having. With the lemony flavors, it would also be a good pairing for a light fish or seafood dish.

Overall Impression: I’m not usually a big saison fan, but this one was very drinkable, yet had a lot of complexity. There was a lot going on, from the lemony citrus and hop bitterness to the spices and barnyard funkiness. Overall, it was a pretty good beer, but I think it would have been a better to enjoy this on during the summer.

My Rating:

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