Olde Colony Saison

Olde Colony Saison
Gifted by the brewer, 7% ABV

Bomber bottle (is that redundant?)

old col
Oh, Ed Silva, homebrewing genius behind the beer, you are ridiculous. You thank me for my little reviews of your beers? ME?! What have I done, other than enjoy the fruits of your labor and share that enjoyment with others?

You open up your home to me and my family. You gift me some of the best beer I’ve ever had and you let my kids play with your son’s toys. You turn on your massive fish tank for them. Your wife makes my wife feel comfortable and “at home” while her doofy husband yaps about yeast strains downstairs.

Do not thank me, Ed. Just remain humble and cool and highly skilled at your craft. Your delicious, delicious craft.

Until recently, I never liked saisons. I would chalk that up to too many breweries claiming “farmhouse” or “funk” as a marketing afterthought due to infection. Or other breweries claiming “Belgian” or “yeasty” when their barrels were too warm or whatever. Saisons were never my favorite style – and they still aren’t, but I’ve gained an appreciation for them as a result of quality brewers who knew what they were doing from the get-go.

[Please note that I included a little "farm" tractor in my picture. I care about the little things on my end of it, which is why appreciate when brewers like Ed do on his end. And yeah, yeah, that's not the proper glass. Whatever.]

And Lasting Brass has nailed the style. Like, Roger Murtaugh “Nailed you both” nailed it. Like Bob Vila and Norm nailing down floorboards nailed it. Like Good Friday nailed – er, you get the point.

The point of the nail that is! Jesus, this is fun.

Lasting Brass Says:

A great beer for the summer months brewed with a touch of local honey and yeast purposely under-pitched to give it that nice funky farmhouse ester a Saison should have.

Heck, I don’t even know what “under-pitched” means, but I have the utmost confidence Ed does. My man knows his brewing. In fact, on the day I picked up this bottle at his Waterbury home (on Olde Colony Drive, if you were curious about the name – but please don’t rob him. I mean, seriously, don’t. crazyNorthKoreanDogsAttackingEffigyHe’s a really good dude and has a wife and a son and is one of the kindest guys you’d ever have the good fortune of meeting and just because he uses the name of his street as one of the names of his beers, don’t take it as an invitation, okay? Or the CTMQ Army will hunt you down and make you go to 100 historic house museums and take a quiz after each one. Punk.)

[Curious about this picture? You should be.]

What was I saying? Oh yeah, when I was at the brewery/home (with a state of the art security system and attack dog so again, seriously, don’t even think about it), Ed and I had a long discussion about brewing saisons and the higher temperatures used in the process when compared to other types of beers. And how some breweries can only brew similar beers because they lack the proper equipment to cool the fermenting barrels down to lower temperatures. Total beer geek stuff that I’m still learning about. During the conversation, my deficiencies became readily apparent.

That’s why I just drink the stuff.

Okay, so, the beer. It’s really, really good. The funk is present, but it’s not overdone at all. It’s subtle, the way I like it. The honey does add a bit of sweetness which is fairly unique, but again, it was added with a deft and light hand. The color is perhaps a little darker than you may expect, but don’t let that fool you – this is a legit saison.

The first saison I had that made me reconsider the style was Saison DuPont. It’s cloudy , slightly spicy and slightly fruity finish enamored me. I still love that beer and have been searching for a similar Connecticut-made beer. And while the Olde Colony isn’t the exact same thing, it’s just as good in it’s own way. And at 7%, it’s mind-blowing how drinkable it is.

As I say with almost every Lasting Brass review, it’s just a shame you can’t go out and buy this stuff.

Yet.

Dunh-dunh-dunnnnnnnhhhhhh.

Overall Rating: A
Rating vs. Similar style: A+

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