Saison Vos

Sly Fox

Available: PA, NY, NJ

Deep gold in colour, this ale would seem to have all the makings of a classic saison, with loads of peppery spice and pear fruit on the nose and a sparkling, lightly sweet body. Although it’s arguably a bit big and sweet in the body for the style, it’s none the less a wonderfully balanced blend of spice and fruit with drying, moderately bitter hops bringing up the rear. Not quite an aperitif, but a nice afternoon quaff with crackers and goat cheese or even dry roasted peanuts.
- Stephen Beaumont

What’s this? Another densely laced foamy head –from Europe. I know why, but I’m not telling. You’ll have to read my books or columns in Zymurgy magazine for clues. Pale pale pale with a suspension of sexually active yeast. Happy beer? Aroma takes me to European cafes offering well-crafted beers from small breweries. Complexity of malt, fruitiness, acidity, hops, yeast and joy in the flavors that overwhelm and converge. Poetry? Yes. The acidic verse gives rise to question. True to farmhouse Belgian tradition. Who’s cutting the cheese?
- Charlie Papazian

This beer pours beautifully, a full burnished gold with a huge fluffy white head and insistent bead. The aroma is citrusy, peppery and inviting. The palate is bone dry, with a sharp bitterness, slight acidic tang and a lively mousse that caresses the tongue. As an enthusiastic saison brewer myself, I must say that this beer is very tasty indeed, a truly excellent rendition of the style. Go buy some now and have it with Thai shrimp in a coconut curry sauce.
- Garrett Oliver

Stephen Beaumont
Stephen Beaumont boarded his first plane at the age of 15 and hasn’t looked back since, obsessing about travel to the point that he gets nervous if he doesn’t have a ticket or two stacked on the corner of his desk. When he’s not running around in search of new taste experiences, he makes his home in Toronto, where a new cultural experience is only as far away as the next neighborhood.

Charlie Papazian
Author of the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, founder of the Great American Beer Festival and a Beer Examiner at www.examiner.com, Papazian is a leading voice in beer and brewing.

Garrett Oliver
Internationally recognized brewer and expert on traditional beer, Garrett Oliver is the brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and the author of The Brewmaster's Table.

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