New Belium Saison Harvest Ale

I am very lucky to be able to provide this review today; there was an incident over the weekend that almost made it impossible. Saturday Morning I ran to the store to pick up some home improvement supplies and swung by the local Albertson's where I knew they had the Sasion in stock. I grabbed a sixer and (another teaser) a case of Sam Adam's winter mix pack, including 3 beers I have never had and a fourth that I haven't reviewed and will. I brought the beers home and tossed 2 of the Sasions in the fridge. I planned to have on later that afternoon.

I ended up not getting around to trying it until Sunday, and decided to have one with lunch. I ran out to the garage and grabbed a beer out of the fridge and immediately noticed that the beer was less than perfectly filled. I never noticed before that all beers have a relatively consistent fill point. I examined the bottle and found that there was residue of some sort right around the cap. Apparently the top had popped a bit and some beer had escaped along with pretty much all of the carbonation. I cracked it open and took a very tentative sip and almost spit it out. This was the worst beer incident I have experienced since the great Dab debacle of 1997.

I proceeded to examine the bottles and found that both of the ones I had cooled were skunked. I found a third that was as well. I had to dump 3 beers and almost cried while doing it. I found 2 that looked fine but I was now officially concerned that any of these beers would hold up.

I decided to try one with dinner in my New Belgium Fat Tire globe glass. Cracked and poured it and there was a nice big head. So far so good. The head came down rather quick with very little lacing. For all the head, it seemed almost to be a flat beer. The color was a perfectly clear light gold. The initial taste was a standard farmhouse offering. Nice and crisp with a hoppy flavor. It was somewhat bland, especially compared to some of the quality ales I have had in the past. Basically, this is a more mild version of this style, not a bad way to introduce this to a budding BA. 2 more left in the fridge, and my fingers crossed that they will be good.