Stone Skipper Dry Hopped Saison

Stone Skipper Dry Hopped Saison is a cheeky little six percenter from the team at Eastbound Brewing Co. The Torontonian saison comes in 355mL cans. It’s a golden ale with some carbonation, though not quite as effervescent as I like in a saison. The beer pours with a sudsy white head.

To my nose, there are apple and baking spice notes and to my tongue, yeasty, floral elements and a sprinkling of ground pepper. The back end is dry, yeasty, and short.

Sometimes new world saisons get a little too ambitious for me, incorporating complicated herb/fruit/botanical combos. What I like about Stone Skipper is that it is a dry-hopped saison, full stop. The yeast and booze are balanced and provide classic saison elements, while the dry-hopping adds a floral character that is quite agreeable.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Chanan

A “dry hopped saison with orange zest and Indian coriander”, Chanan comes from Hamilton, Ontario’s Merit Brewing Co. It’s a 5.3% concoction sold in 500mL bottles with  beautiful, peaceful labels. It’s an extremely cloudy brew—pale orange with a sudsy white foam.

Chanan has a spicy, yeasty aroma with a whiff of orange peel. The beer has a delicate texture and agreeable, if mild, flavour. It’s got a farmhouse yeast base, with some spice and an extremely dry finish.

This little Hamiltonian saison is pretty solid stuff. I’d have liked it to be a bit more effervescent, but otherwise it’s swell swill.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Nerve Tonic Juniper Saison

An innovative little number from Toronto’s Eastbound Brewing Co., Nerve Tonic Juniper Saison is a 6.1% ale sold in 355mL cans. It’s a faintly hazy golden ale that pours with a modest white head and, not shockingly, it has a yeasty, botanical aroma.

Nerve Tonic (great name, BTW) has a pretty bold, earthy, yeast-driven flavour. There is a faintly ginny note, but it is subtle and nicely integrated. The back end is a bit floral, with a slightly spicy uptick.

I thought that Nerve Tonic was a delight—it has decent strength and an agreeable, slightly unusual flavour. Solid offering.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

The Pineapple Incident

Gifted to me by the effortlessly radical MTT, The Pineapple Incident is a pineapple saison from Toronto’s Rainhard Brewing Co. A 5% ale, TPI comes in plain 355mL cans. It’s a lightly hazy, dull gold ale with a thin cover of white head.

TPI has a plenty yeasty scent, with (and this may surprise you) a whiff of piña. The flavour is fairly tart up front, with a mellow pineapple sweetness out back. In neither aroma nor taste is the pineapple more than a suggestion, which is my subtle jam.

The beer coulda been stronger and a bit more flavourful, but I liked it alright. Honestly, it’s a bit more citrus than it is pineapple, but it’s certainly a touch acidic.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Society of Beer Drinking Ladies Blood Orange Saison

No sooner had I spotted Society of Beer Drinking Ladies Blood Orange Saison on the shelf at my local beer vendor than it was flying into my shopping cart. The 5.5% saison is brewed with blood orange purée at Toronto’s Henderson Brewing Company. Sold in stylish 473mL cans, the beer has a mellow orange colour, a hazy look, and a short-lived cap of white head.

The prominent aroma of SOBDL’s Blood Orange Saison is Belgian-style yeast, but it also has tart orange notes. The flavour is similarly concentrated, with potent yeast overlooked by tart yet juicy citrus elements. Beneath the funky flavour is a playfully effervescent texture.

Blood orange is one of my favourite flavour profiles, but it’s also one I’m wary of, as it can sometimes be relied upon too heavily. However, the SOBDL and Henderson used it sparingly to add a li’l something, without drowning the saison.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Tokyo Rose

In exchange for a couple of hours of moving furniture, my ol’ pal MT offered to buy my a couple of beers from Halo Brewery. One of my selections was Tokyo Rose, a saison brewed with rose hips. A Torontonian beer, Tokyo Rose contains 6.4% alcohol and comes in 500mL bottles with attractive labels.

The beer is a cloudy pinkish gold number topped with a fluff of snowy white head. Tart and funky to the nose, Tokyo Rose has an engaging tang. The flavour is yeasty, with a floral perfume element, and an understated bitter finish.

Tokyo Rose is a well-executed saison with a faint rose lilt and a solid texture.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Darkwood Blackberry Saison

I don’t know that my photo fully captures the contrast, but Darkwood Blackberry Saison is a jaunty purple-tinted, pale pink-headed ale that comes in terrifying 473mL cans emblazoned with a huge demon looming over a little kid. See? Contrast.

Darkwood comes, ostensibly, from Toronto, where it is brewed by Brassroots Brewing Co., though the can explains that it is brewed and packaged in Gravenhurst, Ontario. The saison has just 4.3% alcohol, 33 IBUs, and it’s brewed with blackberry purée. It has a dry, yeasty nose supplemented by a whiff of fruit. The flavour is yeast first, with only a hint of the eponymous blackberries. The beer is thin, but fizz-happy, and culminates in a dry finish.

Given its lurid bruise colours, I expected Darkwood to exhibit a too sweet and juicy blackberry element. However, to my delight, it was an understated and elegant addition to a low alcohol saison. The beer was a bit too thin, but otherwise I found myself onboard. Clearly a beer suited to summer patios, I found myself drinking it as a first beer during a mighty snow storm, but the seasonal dissonance didn’t detract one bit. The label promises that “Darkwood is the first of many unique and carefully crafted beers that we vow to brew.” Ok, Brassroots, you’ve got my attention. I’ll be looking out for more.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Goodspeed Smoked Saison

Happy Holidays from the Stout Man!

From Toronto, Godspeed Brewery’s Smoked Saison is a low-alcohol member of their “Pitch & Pray Series”. At just 4.2% alcohol, the beer has a sessionable weight; however, a pungent woodsy and yeasty aroma suggests that this little ale won’t be all that sessionable.

Godspeed’s Smoked Saison comes in 355mL tins. It is a crystal clear brew with a short-lived halo of white head and a pretty fair amount of carbonation. It has a lively but brittle mouthfeel that accompanies a flavour built around Belgian-style yeast. I’m not sure when and how the beer was introduced to smoke—it definitely has a faint tang of carbon, but it is mild and only really evident in the nose and at the finish.

I should confess a sin—this beer sat forgotten in my fridge for far longer than it should have. I think maybe the spare and small silver can made it easy to overlook. However it happened, the beer wasn’t as fresh as it ought to have been when I finally cracked it. It’s a testament to the brew that I still found it to be engaging and enjoyable a few months past its brew date. The beer is thin, but it manages some finespun dignity with its subtle smokey twist.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Saison Davenport

One of the most cleverly-named beers on the Toronto craft scene right now is Saison Davenport. Christened in honour of the legendary Saison Dupont—SD recognizes that its home brewery, Shacklands Brewing Co., is north of Dupont Street, but closer to Davenport.

The beer, which clocks in at 6.4% alcohol, came direct from the brewery in a 650mL bottle. The beer is a dull gold colour with reddish highlights under a fluffy off-white head. SD has a yeasty, fruity nose with notes of apple and Chardonnay. The flavour keeps up the white wine vibe. It’s dry, fruity, and a touch floral. Tying the whole thing together is a streak of convincing Belgian-style yeastiness.

I’m hot and cold on saisons, but a simple, well-made entry is a pretty agreeable beer, and that’s just what I got from Saison Davenport. Not over-complicated, but well-made and tasty. A bit more carbonated zip would have served the mouthfeel better.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Blue County Blueberry Saison

According to the copy on 473mL cans of Blue County Blueberry Saison, 100% of the blueberries used in the brewing process come from Hometown Brew Co.’s fields in Langton, Ontario. At 6%, BC won’t overwhelm, but it can stand up for itself. It’s a brassy beer with a sudsy white head, all of which has an ever-so-slight purplish tint (or I might just be losing it).

Yeasty and peppery to the nose, but with some berry juice, BC has a great smell. The flavour isn’t quite as splendid, although it does taste pretty good. It’s just that the beer, packed full of blueberries as it is, comes off a bit too sweet. There is a funky yeast subtext, but it doesn’t get a chance to shine due to the starring role occupied by those tiny round dudes from Norfolk County.

Blue County is exactly what it set out to be—a blueberry saison—except that the ratios are reversed. I wanted a blueberry SAISON, but I got a BLUEBERRY saison. But I still enjoyed it well enough. Big ups to my pals MN and LD for hooking me up with this (and other) beer for looking after their furry friends.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Daidai

Fizzy and vivacious, Godspeed Brewery’s Daidai is a “saison with Japanese bitter orange”. According to the copy on the 355mL can, this stuff is “made with struggle & love in Toronto, Canada”. Low in booze, Daidai clocks in at just 4.7%. It’s a hazy yellow-gold liquid with a short-lived off-white head.

For a low alcohol potion, Daidai has a powerful aroma. It’s nose is yeasty, spicy, floral, and dry. As for flavour, this brew tightropes its way between the citric tartness lended by the bitter orange and a crackling dryness characteristic of the style.

Daidai was an enjoyable saison. It could certainly have been a bit larger, and I’d love it if the flavour was as compelling as the nose, but I liked the finish product quite well. I’d be interested in buying it again, particularly as a tipple to enjoy as the weather gets warmer.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Shakedown Street

From Savannah, Georgia’s Southbound Brewing Co., Shakedown Street is a “dry hopped tart saison”. It comes in loud 12oz cans, contains 5.2% alcohol, and has a cloudy, yellow gold colour with a thick white head.

Shakedown Street has a peppery, yeasty, and slightly perfumed nose. For a saison, the beer is quite mild-tasting, but it has some depth of flavour. It tastes yeasty and dry, with a floral  quality. As a dry hopped ale, I expected a bit more bitterness. There is a decent hops profile, but not an assertive one. 

A fun and playful saison with a bit of subtle flair, Shakedown Street is a pretty decent little beer. It could be hoppier and more aggressive, but I liked the end result pretty well.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Season’s Change

From Bracebridge, Ontario’s Muskoka Brewery comes Season’s Change; a saison flavoured with raspberry and lavender. According to the card affixed to the bottle (of uncertain size, but south of 400mL), this beer contains 6.5% alcohol and has an IBU count of 25. The beer itself had a slight haze, a thin layer of off-white head, and an orange-gold colouring.

SC is a member of Muskoka’s “Moonlight Kettle” series. It has a potent raspberry and yeast scent—quite tart and agreeable. The smell of this stuff is assertive, with sour fruit leading the way. Given the nose, SC has a deceptively sweet flavour—berry first with some Belgian-style yeastiness along for the ride. As to the lavender, I looked for it, but was only able to detect a slightly floral note alongside a modestly hoppy, albeit too sweet, finish.

Despite its complicated pedigree, I’ll say that SC’s flavour is unexpectedly straightforward—raspberry above all, with a dry and flowery back end, and a yeast-driven vibe from end to end. Less boisterous than its aroma, but still quite pungent, this is a pretty interesting flavoured ale. It could certainly have flexed its saison muscles with a dose more dry yeastiness, it is commendably under-sweet until the back end, when things get a bit syrupy for this dude.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

The Secret Goldfish

A member of Sawdust City Brewing Co.'s Winewood Series, I picked up my corked and caged 750mL bottle of The Secret Goldfish direct from he brewery. The label of this features a vignette about a woman discovering the magic of re-reading books and declares this 6.7% alcohol conviction to be a barrel-aged tart saison. The beer had a bronze tint. It was hazy and aggressively carbonated, with a modest covering of off-white head.

The Secret Goldfish had a sour and slightly saline nose with cranberry and cherry notes. The flavour, less sour than the scent, was still a bit tart, with unripened fruit elements. Cleverly, the barrel-aging flavour was almost hidden beneath a crush of tart notes, but it became more and more apparent as my beer warmed and my mind mellowed.

To this dork, there weren't a lot of saison elements to this stuff, other than a lively mouthfeel and a high concentration of yeast--still, I guess the saison is a big tent and getting bigger, so what do I know? Well, what I do know is that the flavour was nice, the strength just right, and the sourness far from oppressive. The Secret Goldfish made me with that Sawdust City's Winewood Series was available at my local store.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Payday

Payday is a saison from Brampton, Ontario's/Saint John, New Brunswick's Hop City Brewing Co. (incidentally, the fact that two cities are listed makes it ambiguous as to which is "Hop City"). Payday is a 6.2% alcohol, 40 IBU brew sold in 473mL cans emblazoned with a wheelbarrow loaded with money. The beer inside has a bright copper hue. It pours hazily, topped with an off-white crown of suds.

Payday has a spicy and yeasty nose. So too goes its flavour, with yeast leading the way to a slightly floral finish.

As saisons go, Payday is middle of the pack. It has a good weight and look, but I'd like to enjoy a bit more tingle in the mouthfeel and something distinguishing in the flavour. That said, I don't feel like there were any notable flaws.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Ricky and the Hendersons: Face of Toronto

Face of Toronto was brewed by Toronto's Henderson Brewery in honour of the City's 183rd birthday. A dark saison, this tricky little number brings several unconventional ingredients to the traditional Belgian/French farmhouse style: cardamom, orange rind, and chocolate. The beer was a low-alcohol effort, at just 4.5%, and came in a 650mL bottle with a "waving out the streetcar-themed" label. It was Henderson's "Ides of ..." entry for March 2017.

The beer poured stout-dark, which would have been jarring had I not seen MT enjoy one of these guys a day earlier at the brewery. It had a sudsy tan head and a substantially chocolatey aroma. Quite unlike any saison that I've ever tried, Face of Toronto was light on the traditional yeast and spice elements. Its flavours were built largely around chocolate and coffee, with an agreeable dip of the toe into orange. Of the cardamom, I detected very little--only a whisper of spice at the finish of each sip.

If Face of Toronto didn't say "saison" right on the bottle, I'd have called this a spiced stout. However, it does. I must take its saison-itude at "Face" value (puns!), but whatever it's called, I found it to be a largely agreeable dark ale. I'd have liked a bit more spiciness, but the chocolate was nicely represented and the orange peel suitably restrained.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

3-Point Saison

3-Point Saison is a farmhouse ale from Collingwood, Ontario's Collingwood Brewery. It's sold in 473mL cans and contains a pretty substantial 7% alcohol, as well as a modest 20 IBUs.

The beer is hazy and dull gold, with a fluffy white foam on top. It has a fragrance that is, at times, yeasty, tart, and briny, with sour apple notes. The flavour proved significantly less tart than the nose, instead featuring a somewhat unforeseen sweetness at the front end, with some banana esters a bit more suited to a witbier. The back end was, as expected, yeasty and dry.

 

While 3-Point wasn't quite as effervescent as many saisons, it was rife with wild yeast, giving homage to its Belgian-style roots. At 7%, there was more booze than the average Ontarian take on the saison. I enjoyed this brew while I was watching the Toronto Raptors kick the crap out of the Milwaukee Bucks in game 5 of their playoff series, so I was predisposed to like it, but I genuinely thought it was a good, not great, beer. Would definitely buy again.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Farmed & Dangerous

Farmed & Dangerous is a funky little Belgian-style farmhouse ale from Toronto's Bandit Brewery. This 6% alcohol saison-style brew comes in 500mL bottles with really spiffy labels featuring a dapper, fanged hop-dude. Inside, the beer proved to be dull orange and very hazy. It poured with a lovely cap of white head.

F&D's nose was yeasty, dry, tart, and fruity. It had a yeast-driven flavour profile, supplemented with some spice notes, green apple, and some earthy elements.

F&D tasted like an authentic farmhouse ale from Belgium or France. It was funky and complicated, with a bit of a wild side. At just 6%, it was a bit underproof for the style, but it had the flavour to almost make up for it.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Symington Saison

Symington Saison hails from Toronto. It's assembled by Katalyst Brewing Company and sold in spiffy 473mL cans. At 5.5%, it has a bit of play, and according to the ingredients list, there is a little taste of rye grain in the stuff.

The Belgian-style saison is a cloudy yellow-orange number that pours with a moderate covering of off-white head. It has a piquant aroma that is both yeast and nicely spiced, and a flavour that transitions from grainy to tart, with a side trip through rye, clove, and caraway.

I found this to be a very agreeable saison, with a rich flavour and a decent strength. Though there are many pluses, it should also be said that the front end of this beer is too sweet, and the mouthfeel insufficiently ebullient. I'll be keeping an eye out for more brews from Katalyst. They show promise.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Collective Project: Papaya Saison

My first foray into the Collective Project Sixer was the Papaya Saison. Brewed in Hamilton, Ontario by Collective Arts Brewing Limited, this 6% alcohol farmhouse ale lists papaya among its ingredients--not papaya extract or papaya purée or papaya concentrate. So that's something. Sold in 355mL bottles, Papaya Saison pours fizzy and clear, with a pale golden hue and thin white head that could easily be mistaken for an American-style lager.

Less belligerently fruity than I expected, the nose is more of an earthy, yeasty job, with an overlay of tropical notes. Ditto the flavour, which is doubtlessly fruity, but more so yeast-driven. The dry mouthfeel is very true to style, and the finish is just faintly bitter.

If it weren't for the mention of papaya in the name and ingredients list, I'd have merely called this a saison with a hint of fruity character. The subtle nature the papaya was incorporated shows impressive restraint in a style that could easily have gone awry with a heavy hand. I am really quite impressed with this little brew--a lovely, light-tasting summer ale, with a faint booze bite.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.