It's best to embrace new brewing trends
wholeheartedly as they come along, because you never know how long
they'll last. Sour beers won me over remarkably quickly – the
flavour profile is pretty radically different from what I generally
drink, with even my beloved over-hopped IPAs sporting entirely new
sensory combinations. Not to mention, Coriolis Effect from
Sawdust City carried me through seeing Corb Lund at the Townehouse,
letting me deny every impulse my body could throw out and actually
stay up until 1:30 AM for the third encore, without having to resort
to drinking coffee (or, gah, regular light
beer) at a concert.
Sour Pumpkin Saison
from Hamilton's Collective Arts promises a triple whammy of
yeast, acidity and autumn spice, and makes good on at least two of
those. As always with Collective Arts (it seems like it's kinda their
thing), Sour Pumpkin Saison
has eye-catching labels – the latest run of Ransack the Universe had
tigers – but they
appear to have gone with a single design for their Hallowe'en
offering, with a cat-masked girl on a (presumably haunted) bicycle
providing a spooky counterpoint to the carefree lass who adorns Red
Racer.
Pouring
a Sour Pumpkin Saison
immediately rewards you with aromas of light brown bread, allspice,
and the distinctive sour ale sharpness like cracking into a jar of
homemade pickles. Allspice is the most evident spice both in the head
and body, as is characteristic of an Ontario pumpkin spice ale, but
harmonizes very interestingly with the sourness and backing spices
(particularly cinnamon) to give an impression of sumac – and
leading me to wonder if a pumpkin spice beer that actually did
contain sumac could potentially work, even as a non-sour. The overall
aroma comes across as almost condiment-y, and I'm already thinking of
noodle bowls this could greatly enliven in place of sherry.
Semi-relatedly, a quarter-can of Lake of Bays Brewing Wild
North Pumpkin Ale (review to
follow) made for some outstanding molé-inspired
refried beans.
Lightly
carbonated with short-lived foam, Sour Pumpkin Saison
is similar in heft, colour and texture to perennial favourite
Highballer Pumpkin Ale
from Grand River Brewing – but that's largely the extent of the
similarities. Sour Pumpkin Saison
has a strong, pleasant 'fermenty' taste, with aromatic yeastiness
like light brown bread – think fresh 60% whole wheat – and a
sourness more reminiscient of straight lemon juice than the vinegar
or sauerkraut-like tang of other sours I've recently enjoyed. The
sour aspect dominates on the palate, but there is a subtle, earthy
hint of pumpkin throughout, and the spices become more prominent on
the aftertaste – particularly clove, barely noticeable at first but
outlasting the other flavours in the end. As I anticipated, hops
ended up being a minimal presence, hard to distinguish behind all of
the more dominant tastes. Ultimately, the spices don't stand out as
much as I'd prefer – developing that nascent sumac note further
could have had interesting results indeed.
For
the strength and depth of flavour, Sour Pumpkin is
surprisingly easy-drinking;
sourness and lingering yeast build up on the palate, but this is
balanced by long-lasting, astringent clove. I still find the word
“sessionable” inexplicably loathsome, but I have to admit it
applies – Collective Arts' first pumpkin-spiced offering joins Wild
North Pumpkin in a category I
used to populate with Highballer
alone – a novelty (not that this is an inherently bad thing, see first paragraph) flavoured beer that can carry an
entire evening on its own.
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