Saison Liaison: Stillwater Artisanal Ales Stateside Saison
Things get silly stateside.
Enjoyed on 8/22/2011
Brewery: Stillwater Artisanal Ales
Location: Baltimore, MD
Beer: Stateside Saison
Web: http://stillwaterales.blogspot.com/
Presentation: 750 ml brown bottle, capped and foiled.
ABV: 6.8%
Hops: N/A
Malt: N/A
Adjuncts: N/A
From the Bottle:
Stateside Saison pays homage to old world tradition while celebrating new world innovation. Naturally brewed with the finest European malts & fresh aromatic hops from the United States & New Zealand. It’s then fermented using a classic farmhouse ale yeast and bottle conditioned to enhance stability. The outcome is a beer of unique design and exquisite taste, showcasing some of the best attributes of modern-day craft brewing. (Brewed by Stillwater @ DOG Brewing Co.)
Beer Advocate: A- (4.01)
Rate Beer: 98 (3.69)
Music Accompaniment: Garden Sound – Black Summit
Timperial’s Notes:
Background.
I have an abnormal type of personality that causes me to become affixed to the aura that surrounds certain things. Things that inspire me or that I, for some reason (often unknown to even myself) find to be interesting. These things are very often on the peripherals of pop culture. I don’t like liking the same stuff as ‘most’ people. I have a desire to be different I guess. Some may find this to be endearing. Others, pretentious. I am who I am.
I still think that being really into beer, in itself, is a hobby that is, if not on the peripheral, somewhat askew from the norm. Within that hobby though, my deep enjoyment of IPAs and Imperial Stouts are by no means unique. Possibly though, my infatuation with farmhouse breweries of America, brewers without breweries, and Scandinavian breweries just might be. Brian Strumke, owner and brewer of Stillwater Artisanal, seems to fit into 2 of the above 3 infatuations of mine. Thus, I may go on and on about him and his products. Somehow, I’m not embarrassed by this overindulgence of mine.
Appearance.
It becomes very apparent the moment Stateside begins to enter the glass that it must be poured slowly. It’s highly carbonated and foams up with the exuberance of an overzealous child at a swimming pool. A careful pour still finds my glass half full of a pure white head with varying sized bubbles. The translucent golden amber hue of the brew at hand is very inviting but also mysterious. The liquid casts a thin shroud across the activity within – quickly rising bubbles of life. The head never fully dissolves and tends to leave signs of it’s previous habitations on the glass. It’s a sight to see. Very Belgian indeed.
Odor.
The aromatics of this brew are unmistakably of a Belgian Saison. That’s really beautiful actually. Made in America.
That yeast is such a workhorse. I sometimes think that saisons are the easiest beers in the world to make because the yeast does all the work. Healthy yeast will inevitably yield a tasty brew. That’s probably not true and I surely do not discredit the handy work of one Brian Strumke, but the yeast is, without a doubt, a dominating factor within this style. Here it lends its classic earthiness, which would probably be considered a defining characteristic, one especially relevant to the world’s most quintessential saison – Saison Dupont.
Here, somewhat unlike there, many more estery notes are allowed to intermingle. This is especially true as it warms. May it be due to differences in the yeast strain itself, or simply higher fermentation temperatures, it brings a welcome nuance to the nose. The earthiness is mostly of literally that; earth. Soil. Dirt. Maybe even wet stone, if that has a smell. The esters brings thoughts of sweet pear and strawberry. Together, these notions have the means to put you right on that proverbial farmhouse. As I have always said when referring to my beloved saisons; the style, more than any other, has the profound ability to put you in a very defined time and space. It’s a path that I’m always open to traverse.
It’s worth noting that there is also a spiciness to the bouquet but it seems to find me on a much more visceral level than the other scents. It’s as though I feel it in my body but don’t actually smell it. It seems to present itself just as I’m about to take in a pull, as the liquid is closest to my nose. It might be a correlation that I make with the style, or more likely a deja vu type of thing where my tongue tastes it but my brain tells me it came before the taste.
Flavor.
In a nutshell, the flavor is sweet, spicy, herbal, bitter, fruity and slightly tart. It’s a whirlwind. Somewhat ironically, speaking of nutshells, this beer tastes quite nutty. I swear, no subliminal messages are feeding my brian. It’s there.
Hops play a strong role here and that is fairly abnormal for a style originating in Belgium. I guess that’s the beauty of American brewing – everything can be seen in a new light. We have hops, they don’t (mostly), let’s use them to our advantage. It works…well. The piney hop notes mesh with the fruity esters to bring about a full range of characteristics typically imparted by hops alone. There is bitterness, but the residual sweetness of the grains balances it perfectly.
There seems to be a feel to the beer that begets thoughts of wheat. I taste some banana, and that always makes me think of hefeweizens. I must remind myself that it’s the yeast, not so much the grain that forges that flavor, but something inside me says to stick with my guns and claim the use of wheat in the grain bill.
As the beer warms significantly, a lot of acidity comes out. There is often a “barnyard funk” found in saisons but this is different. It seems more lacto than brett. Actually is seems like citric acid. All of a sudden it’s as though this was dry-hopped with Citra and orange rind. I’m kind of at a loss but it’s mighty pleasant.
Aftertaste.
The aftertaste might be the best part of this beer. As I said before, the brew is very well balanced and isn’t allowed to dry out (fully…still a bit dry) like is so often the case with the style. It’s somewhat Champagne like actually. There is still a lot of carbonation, some fruitiness, some sweetness, some alcohol, some earthiness… it’s a celebration. If only it had a cork to ricochet about the room.
Summary.
This beer is the flagship beer of Stillwater. The most ‘common’ of their beers. This is a highly uncommon beer. One for the peripherals you might say… as is the entire existence of Stillwater. Infatuation defined.
