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issue 35 working_Layout 1 9/10/2013 2:33 PM Page 21
king . ys, s, ze e t in beer.
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Let’s get back to the product: Anchor doesn’t make a bad beer, in my opinion, and I’m happy to say the BigLeaf Maple is up to snuff. A combination of pale malt and two caramel malts, a good bunch of hops, a slight hint of sweetness and 6% ABV, this Autumn Red will make you dance for the fall. It’s an easy drink with a mouthful of complicated malty satisfaction. Add it to your list of brews to try this fall and… I’m ready to move on to the next, so let’s go! Scythe & Sickle is another fall seasonal from the New York brewery Ommegang of Cooperstown, NY, which has created a beer for us who enjoy reaping the benefits of a farmer’s (or brewer’s, in this case) hard work during the harvest season. Holy crap! We’ve got a good one here! I just poured this into a pint and WoW! Gorgeous, slightly hazy, amber… I can already smell it. What a perfect crisp, light malty, breadycracker scent with a sweet tone. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but I like it! It’s a really comfortable smell. Taste this beer. Upfront, it’s full of a sweetness that reminds me of honey, but is quickly wrapped in a rich, full, warming flavor with a complexity that is somewhat bewildering. I’ll do my best here, in no particular order… cut hay, mild sweet fruit, like apple maybe; is there spice and citrus in there? Yeah, a bit…
CIDER MAGAZINE
ISSUE 35
PG 21
and it dries right up at the end making this a really comfortable beer and making me wish I had another. This was a pleasant surprise to be honest. I grabbed this single not knowing what to expect, and it put a smile on my face and an interest in trying more from this NY brewery. And lastly, here we have yet ANOTHER brand new beer. This one hails from the fine folks at Magic Hat and has been dubbed Séance. As to be expected from Magic Hat, we have before us a beautiful, creepy label with a beer that pours a murky, real deep ruby, allowing almost no light through. And ready for this? It’s a Saison; which are typically (but they can be rather diverse) more similar to a pale ale, using pale and/or pilsner malts. Now, as with this, some darker malts get used, but we’re talking about a beer that traditionally was brewed in
Belgium in the fall for consumption by the farmers the following summer. So they were lighter, yellow-colored, cloudy, low ABV, lawnmower beer, but with more hops to preserve them. Enough history, I just find it interesting that THIS Saison is a unique one. Again… thanks goes to Magic Hat for being weird as usual. The first gulp will grab ya. It’s smooth, malty, earthy feel tastes like fall for some reason. The nose is fig-ish-ly fruity with a caramel roast that comes through in the taste of this beer. It’s a great flavor with a light carbonation and low ABV, so it goes down quick and easy. The hops are there too, but well hidden in the woodsy flavor. But it has a bitter tone but more tart-bitter at the tail end. Far from a traditional hazy, light Saison, t ??2&VW"?26V6???F?N( ?2?V???r?v?2?BGW&?F?R6?&?W"???????????F?????r6??R&V??w&VB&VW"v????bf?"v?FWfW"&V6????^( ?fR7F?VBv?g&??F?R?B&V6V?F??6??R??&6??BG'?F??2??RF??2f???vV??7&??F?R&VW"?2v??R?wVW72?( ????fRF?G&???v?F??( ???v???W?B???F?(
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