Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young


Brewery and Country of Origin: Harpoon Brewery of 306 Northern Avenue, Seaport District, Boston, MA 02210, USA

Date Reviewed: 10-30-13

You often hear the idiom, "too many cooks spoil the broth", which is easily used as a metaphor for other areas of human endeavors. Imagine if Salvador Dali had to work with five other painters who were consulting him on the physical properties of materials used in pocket watches? What if the US Mens 1980 Olympic hockey team had four head coaches? How would we have fared in World Wars with six presidents? For many reasons, having too many people providing input and having their way with important decisions can prove a bit messy. But as is with every life rule, there's always a solution. And the solution comes in the form of efficient collaboration. No, this is not about Congress, or The United Nations General Assembly. We're talking more along the lines of Wikipedia, crowd sourcing, the F-22, Jay-Z & Alicia Keys, or the International Space Station (if money wasn't a thing). Successful collaboration drives economies, creates art, advances science, and develops societies. And, as Harpoon has shown us, it brews good beer as well. Released as the 47th installment in their 100 Barrel Series brews, the Saison Various is a blend of unique ideas and brews from four of the brewery's workforce, including co-founder Rich Doyle. According to the description, the hops, natural additives, Trappist Yeast, and malt of each of the four brewers' individual saison's blended to make for refreshing and interesting example of how having too many brewers boils the wort. Ok, maybe it wasn't that clever.
Date Sampled: 9-01-13 At: 146 Fiddlers Hollow, Penfield, NY, 14526, USA
Beer Style: Saison/Farmhouse Blend
Alcohol by Volume: 6.10%
Serving Type: 22 oz Bottle, 16 oz Mug Glass
Rating: 3.68

Look

Saison Various pours with a very choppy character, producing a high amount of carbonation action which gives this beer a full inch tall foam head with some retention, a medium density, a white color, and a moderately low level of retention. This beer has a high level of effervescent effect and a slightly hazy appearance with a very bright glow in the light and a good amount of golden colored shine. This beer has a moderately low amount of lacing, and some distinguishable fine sediment.

Aroma

This aromatic beer is full of piney floral hops and a balancing very pale malty secondary. This beer's pale malt also comes with some grassy note. There are some slightly spicy properties and a bitter experience overall. This beer has a good amount of citrusy fruity aroma and no alcohol tinge.

Feel

This is a light bodied brew with a low weight, a very crisp feel overall with a high amount of carbonation, a low viscosity, and a low weight, making this a great beer for the hot summer months. This beer is also pretty easy to drink, and comes with some fairly refreshing qualities as well as some after finish cooling and a dry linger. This beer also gets no additional texture from the included sediment.

Taste

The 47th session of Harpoon's 100 Barrel Series is complex overall, with an immediately bitter dominated flavor which is derived from some bitter, yet delicate floral hops, which are augmented with some fairly spicy notes and some grassy pale malt character. This beer's bitterness mellows after the initial taste, but also has a bitter aftertaste which lingers for a good amount of time. The hoppy aspects of this beer's flavor also include some fruity citursy notes. This beer's flavor profile contains no alcoholic notes.

Our Take

Whether you take this in as a blend or an individually distributed saison, you shouldn't worry about being satisfied with yet another positive result from Harpoon's 100 Barrel Series. This blend follows all of the traditional saison characteristics, with a hop leaning crisp profile, a light, easy drinkability for hot weather, and a full aromatic experience. Yet this beer is also complex, offering an array of mixed flavors and a good amount of spice. This is a limited time, one batch brew and though the weather is starting to get brutally cold where we are, we still believe that any saison or lighter ale fan will definitely enjoy this one of a kind blended brew. Of course, don't look for this to warm you up. Don't replace any double bocks, oktoberfests, or marzens with a saison, and don't try to pour four random beers into a glass and expect it to taste good.