Some people have to have the latest Apple “i” gadget as soon as it’s on the market. Some people have to have the latest car, motorcycle or drone. Some people have to watch every Kurt Sutter television series from the day it launches. It seems like most people need to always have the latest and greatest of at least one thing in their lives.
For me it’s saisons. Saisons are seasonal pale ales that are generally characterized by high carbonation, as well as their fruity and spicy flavors. A big portion of my love for saisons is the way they taste and smell. But let me be completely honest. I love the way I think I look when I say the word.
“Say-Zahn.”
All of a sudden, I’m an international traveler yukking it up with princes and kings instead of a bald family man with two kids under 5 trying to stay awake through any conversation.
So when I heard Whitewall Brewing in Marysville had a new saison on tap, I needed to try it. Whitewall is a great local brewery that came onto the scene with solid beers about a year and a half ago and have only gotten better. I usually try to stop in for any of their new releases but I literally rearranged a very busy schedule for the Cat on a Leash Rye Saison. (No cats were harmed in the making of this beer.)
The first thing I noticed about this beer was the color. I’m used to saisons having a light yellow or orange tone to them but the rye gave this beer a glorious copper color, which made for a nice visual tie-in with the penny inlaid bar tops at the brewery. I wasn’t expecting it but it made sense.
The nose was largely banana with just a hint of bubble gum, reminiscent of many Belgian-style ales. But the smell belied the flavor. There was a hint of the banana sweetness as well as some clove right at the beginning of the first sip of this 6-percent (ABV) beauty but it moved very quickly into spice. Not hot spice or black pepper spice but the same spice you’d get from drinking a rye whiskey. The kind of spice I’ve been known to pontificate about for hours. The spice lingers long enough to let you know you are drinking something with legs but fades enough to allow your palate to regroup for the next drink.
This isn’t your every day saison. It’s not the type of saison you sit and drink at brunch surrounded by melon balls and spritzers. It’s for the bold, the adventurous, the sophisticated … the international traveler in all of us.
Scott Wetzel owns Fresh Bread Design, an Arlington graphic design business that works with breweries and distilleries. Follow him on Twitter at @FreshBreadD.
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