New England Series: Cisco Brewers Island Reserve Saison Farm House Ale

More and more breweries across the nation are offering up there take on farmhouse ales, which includes the French-Belgian saison. Today, saison is a very broad category as far as stylistic aspects are concerned. They can range from light to dark, low to high alcohol, fruity, spicy, and the list goes on. Historically, saisons were (probably) simply malted barley, hops, water, and yeast, allowing the flavor profiles of the yeast to do most of the work. Not to say that good saisons are not still brewed this way (because they are. Check out mine), but many craft brewers are adding in a plethora of ingredients to spice things up...no pun intended.

I have seen Cisco Brewers six packs in the liquor stores and was always attracted to the art, but I am pretty sure I have never had the pleasure of trying any of their ales. Because my goal was to try as many different New England breweries as I could, I tried to stick with single bottles instead of the 6 packs, so when I saw a large bottle of Cisco Brewers Island Reserve Saison Farm House Ale I did not hesitate to bring one home with me.

Out of Nantucket, Massachusetts, Cisco Brewers has been creating craft brews since 1992 when the founders moved to Nantucket to live on a winery. Their operation started out small and was actually considered the first and only outdoor brewery because the entire brew process was conducted outside. Eventually they upped the scale (and moved inside), and now Cisco Brewers is the craft beer branch, with Triple Eight Distillery and Nantucket Vineyard creating the liquor and wine respectively.

The first thing I noticed about Cisco's saison was the unique color. It poured a golden-orange with quite a bit of haze. I have never come across a saison with such interesting colors, and this would be a good sign of many more interesting things to come. The aroma was strong with ripe tropical fruits with some bubblegum/candy notes. There is a sort of aromatic funk resemblant to a sour which gives it that candy tartness. The first sip, which was ushered by the rich aromas, was a rush of flavors that really took me off guard (in a good way). I got strong elements of tropical fruits with lots of tart and sour notes. There seems to be some spices utilized, but I had a hard time trying to figure out exactly what they were.

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After that first sip, I immediately went to Cisco Brewers website to figure out what exactly was going on in this nontraditional saison. As I kind of expected from the sour elements, I found out that this ale was fermented with Brettanomyces ("Brett") along with a saison yeast. Though Brett is not necessarily considered a souring agent, it does create a tartness that gives it a bit a twang without the full fledged Rene-Zellwegger-face-producing sourness. What is really fun and interesting about Brett is that it is a fairly difficult strain of yeast to predict and control, so the brewer is somewhat at the mercy of the microorganisms. The end result is usually somewhat of a surprise, though not completely, which always makes for something interesting. I then discovered the ale was put in oak barrels for a period of time which instilled flavors and aromas, which I noticed more as the saison warmed. Cisco's website also mentioned that many of the hop additions typical of a saison were replaced with a medley of herbs and spices that are grown on location at the brewery, which explains the spiciness that I was detecting but having a hard time pinpointing. It really is an all around "fun" beer that has your nose and palette picking out new aromas and flavors with every sip.

Cisco Brewers flat out states that this is labeled a saison since it is the closest style to the ale they created, but it is by no means to be taken as an example of at traditional saison. The aroma that greets you with every flavorful sip and the effervescence makes this beer an all around thrill ride for your senses. You can probably tell by the length of this post, but this beer has really gotten me excited. I actually went out and bought two more bottles; one to share with some friends (who all loved it as much as I did) and one to age for a year or two. I don't know how to make this happen, but I NEED a bottle or three of these to make it out to Colorado. Oh how I will miss this funky "saison"...