Town Hall Rustic Rye Saison

Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery Rustic Rye Saison.

Saison isn't a style rich in tradition at Town Hall. Their numbers over the brewery's history doesn't compare in the smallest to the pale ales, IPAs, double IPAs, smoked porters, fruity wheats, or myriad bourbon-barrel batches that they are famous for.

 A quick look on BeerAdvocate.com shows only this one among the 121 "active" beers listed, and in the "archive" section, there are only 2 among the 250 in that category, one simply called Saison, first released in June 0f 2006, and a Barrel-aged Belgian Saison from 2009. They were long overdue in releasing another one.

So, I brought a growler of this one home recently, and here are the notes:

Clear, straw gold coloring, nice white head that drips down to nil in no time.

Aroma: light spice, citric notes, lemon mainly, minor hops, crisp malt.

Taste: Hey, there's rye in there! Just enough to bring on the spice. Plenty of it, actually. Malt's on the mild side, just enough rye, though, to bring on the pumpernickel. Good drinking, this one. With a never-quite-quitting fruity flavor, ending nice and dry. Nice. And. Dry. Ah….


Notes from the Brewery:
"Rustic Rye Saison, 6.7%. Brewed in the Farmhouse Saison tradition, we brought in authentic Saison yeast for this pale French/Belgian-style beer, a rare appearance at Town Hall. Saison, meaning season in French is a broadly defined pale ale that in modern versions is generally around 7% above, highly carbonated, fruity, spicy--sometimes from the addition of spices,. As a beer style it originated from beers brewed during the cooler and less active months in farmhouse in Wallonia, the french-speaking region of Belgium, and the stored for drinking by the farm workers during the summer months.
Styrian Goldings hops grace the hop flavor/aroma stage, as well as a healthy dose of Grain of Paradise, an exotic African pepper which adds spiciness as well as citrus and bubblegum aroma. The malt is composed of German floor-malted Pilsner malt, Vienna malt, Malted Rye, wheat malt and a dash of Acidulated malt to add crispness and dryness. Rye tends to add a crisp, dry breadiness to beers, and is well-suited to refreshing Saisons. It is not uncommon to find rye or oats in Saison recipes. You may notice a slight haze from this unfiltered beer.

You will find this beer to be fruity, spicy, with a dry finish. Another find beer for the patio!"

I considered merely providing a link to this page, but they tend to drop these pages when the beer is no longer on tap, and if you read this later, I don't want to send you off to nowhere. Also, I couldn't cut and paste, because it's in flash, so my fingertips are tired, man!