Quick show of hands... who out there likes beer? If your hand is raised, and it really should be as you're reading a blog all about beer, then listen up! I found a humdinger of a beer tonight. Red Barn Ale, made by the folks at The Lost Abbey, is truly a delight. Apparently it's a saison style beer, which means it's traditionally low in alcohol content to refresh farm workers during the harvest season (thank you wikipedia). Well I'm not a farm worker, but it is creeping up on the harvest season, and this beer was very refreshing.
It comes in a champagne style bottle, cork and all, and when poured it's a very near perfect golden color, along with a nice healthy amount of head. When I first opened it and took a sniff, it immediately smelled like one of the Beer Crusaders home brews, which isn't always a good thing (we drink when we brew sometimes, you do the math) but this had a wonderful smell. The aroma of hops and yeast hit me immediately, and produced an "eight year old on Christmas morning" smile on my face.
When I finally stopped smelling it and had a sip, I realized just how near perfection this beer was. Not perfect, but close to it. The spices immediately jump out at you, but doesn't overwhelm your pallet, which is a very fine line.
At 6.7%abv, it's not exceptionally potent, but who cares when it tastes this good. Overall, I'm giving this beer a very strong 4. I wasn't really expecting much from it, but was very surprised and will most definitely purchase another bottle in the very near future.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment