What will become of the saison in Australia? There are many, many brewers for whom it is a favourite style, able to be both subtle and complex, to offer up an array of aromas, flavours and textures, suitable for pairing with almost any food type you can imagine. Yet, at the same time, it's a style that's been added to a few core ranges only to quietly shuffle off stage a year or two later.
Maybe it's a style destined to be a seasonal for all but the most dedicated of farmhouse-influenced operators, an outcome that, as avowed fans of such beers, we'll just have to accept. And it's as a seasonal that this one appears from Noisy Minor for summer 2018/19, with Swooping Saison promising to "reward your warm weather beer craving". It says it will do so with "melon, tangerine and spice notes" and leans more towards the last of these, while also offering up some more rustic, floral elements too. There's some barnyard funk on the nose too, with some honey sweetness intermingled with hay/straw flavours on the palate and a dry finish the key to solving the "warm weather craving". Meanwhile, if anyone is struggling with the "sitting back and chilling" part of summer, the close to 7 percent in alcohol suggests it could help solve any issues there too.
Published January 5, 2019 2019-01-05 00:00:00
