I bought an Urthel Saisonniere beer based on two misconceptions. The first was that it was brewed by Urquell and second was that Urquell was La Chouffe. There's actually a third misconception generated from these other two (a meta-misconception if you will) that I like Urquell, which I don't. Apparently in my mind "Gnome" plus something starting with a "Urt" equals La Chouffe. So anyway, I'm going into this review totally blind.
Urthel Saisonniere is a bottle conditioned unfiltered Blonde Special Ale, and no, I have no idea what that means either. I have some hunches though; normally special means extra special bitter (ESB) but that really doesn't match a Blonde ale. I'm not terribly familiar with the saison style, so I'm probably missing something here. A unfiltered bitter blonde seems more like a chain-smoking ex-girlfriend with self image problems than a tasty beer. Let's see how it stacks up...
Beereview: Urthel Saisonniere
The first thing I noticed is that (on pouring) the sludge at the bottom is more of a brunette than a blonde. It was a little offputting but it also made it pretty easy to make sure I wasn't pouring it into my glass.
Being a bottle conditioned beer, it's very active but surprisingly: the head retention is also great. I'm not used to seeing a full head stick around on such a light looking beer, nor do I usually expect a full head from a blonde (bad pun, sorry.)
This beer is only slightly cloudy and sort of a pale amber in color. The aroma isn't hoppy or malty exactly, it smells quite grainy like pilsner. It's got a strong sour aroma, but it's more like the basic beer smell than any kind of fruit, although it does have a nice sweet finish.
The flavor starts off very bitter but quickly turns into something I can only describe as sweet melon. The bitterness sticks around until the end, so I wouldn't exactly call it an aftertaste. It's more like a bitter shock that slowly wears off with some fleeting sweetness in the middle. It's probably fair to call this flavor "woody." After a few swallows the sweetness can't really be tasted anymore. I was totally fooled by the lack of a hoppy aroma, and I kind of wish I was having this with some food. I think it would probably go well with some coconut shrimp or chicken fingers, but what doesn't?
Overall, this is a pretty good blonde but the bitterness and sourness won't appeal to a lot of people. I don't think I'd recommend it, but I probably just don't like the saison style. I'd be looking for something a bit lighter for refreshment and something a little less dominant to have with a meal.
Have you tried this? What did you like about it? Let me know in the comments below!
We enjoy reading about all the beers and beer stories this
ReplyDeleteblog reports on. We are in
the planning stages for a new brewery in Northeastern USA called Charter Oak
Brewing Company LLC and our business plan is to grow to over 25,000BBL within 5
years.
The breweries and stories you report on, allow for much
encouragement.
http://charteroakbrewing.com
A True Legend!