Tasting Notes: Beerd: Ego Saison (England: Saison: 7.4% ABV)
Visual: Caramel brown murky body. Massive browned mound of froth.
Nose: Apricot. Lemongrass. Bubblegum. Wheat. Malt chocolate. Kaffir lime. Honeyed shredded wheat. Orange. Cheese puffs.
Body: Sherbet fizzy. Malt chocolate. Bubblegum. Kaffir lime. Malt toffee. Kiwi. Light pepper. Cheesy puffs. Light orange juice.
Finish: Lemongrass. Malt chocolate. Dried apricot. Lemon sorbet. Toffee. Pepper and wheat. Funky yeast character. Mature cheese. Brown bread.
Conclusion: This is an unusual saison, and by unusual I mean above and beyond just the fact that it is a sorachi ace saison and that would make it odd enough by itself. Sorachi Ace is always odd. And usually awesome.
One point that makes it seem unusual is that it is more malt led than most and that malt body is more towards the darker, toffyish side than I am used to. The dark cloudy body on the eye comes through with malt flavours on the tongue to match. It means that less of that wheaty and peppery character, or the more rustic notes, show themselves. They are present but those rustic saison characteristics are having to compete more with the malt for your attention.
Then, yes, on top of that we have my beloved sorachi ace hop. Lots of bubblegum, lemongrass and lime notes – all the odd savoury hop notes are here on full show. Again, the malt levels means that they are not as clearly defined in other beers, but you still can’t mistake its unique presence in this beer.
Does it work? Opinions are varied. But for me, and me alone I would say yes, albeit with some qualifications. When it is super chilled it does lose most of that saison character, but at just slightly cool the malt and saison style balance nicely and the sorachi flavours have their room to play. Not the best beer for pure sorachi – it needs a more neutral base for that, but a fun mix. The aforementioned qualifications on the recommendation though. Share this beer. I had this myself and by the second half of the beer it was getting very wearing. Also, as I may have indicated it is pretty much only for Sorachi Ace fans, if you don’t like the hop, this wont change your mind.
To make it a better beer it would need better defined notes – the heavy malt base means they can get muddy. However for for of the odd hop, and odd beers, this is fun enough
Background: Beerd is the craft beer arm of Bath Ales, I don’t think I have done notes on any of theirs yet. I’ve tried a whole bunch locally. This is a sorachi ace and brewers gold hopped saison. I had tried a sample of this before at Independent Spirit, which I hugely enjoyed, and being a Sorachi Ace fan I had to grab this for full notes. Drunk while listening to a bit of the heavy tunes of Feed The Rhino. Hoping to see them live later this year. I was hoping to do a big up of the amazing wrestling tag team Project Ego which this beer made me think of. However on googling them just before drinking I found out Kris Travis, one of the two members passed away earlier this year. So raise a glass please to his memory and all the joys he gave us in the ring.
